This week, SpinDrive, a Finnish company providing affordable active magnetic bearings for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), has secured a €3.8 million Series A funding round.
SpinDrive’s frictionless bearings are smaller, more energy efficient, and more affordable than its competitors. The bearings work through magnetic levitation, where there is no contact between rotating and stationary parts.
No friction means no bearing maintenance for up to 20 years, even in high-speed applications, meaning high rotational speeds and energy efficiency without the risk of equipment downtime or maintenance breaks.
This is unlike traditional ball bearings in industrial high-speed applications, which have a 12-18 month maintenance cycle, requiring bearing replacement.
SpinDrive’s bearings also provide condition monitoring and predictive maintenance of the whole machine, removing the need to install external sensors to monitor system health and reducing overall equipment maintenance costs by over 80 percent.
Improved energy efficiency is a key element in reducing industrial emissions.
SpinDrive sees CO2 emission mitigation as one of its most significant contributions, and the company aims to help cut 500 Mt of CO2 by 2050 annually by improving the energy efficiency of industrial machinery.
New innovative technologies for fundamental machinery components, such as SpinDrive digital bearings, are essential in striving towards a carbon-negative future.
According to Janne Heikkinen, CEO and Co-founder of SpinDrive:
“Climate change is the biggest challenge of our time, but we often get stuck thinking about technologies like carbon capture regarding CO2 emissions.
Industrial production is a massive part of the world’s energy consumption and climate emissions, so we must create energy-efficient and clean components to turn this tide. By improving the energy efficiency in existing and new machinery, we tackle the problem in a massive area and provide a significant impact.”
The round was led by US-based, hardware companies-focused investor Rhapsody Venture Partners, with existing investors Innovestor from Finland and Born2Grow from Germany also participating.
The funding will enable SpinDrive to ramp up its commercial growth and improve industrial efficiency in factories worldwide.
“We scour the world for great hard science breakthroughs and love innovations that sell. SpinDrive’s system is much cheaper and better than anything else in the market. We are excited to partner with the team and to help grow SpinDrive internationally. ” says Carsten Boers, Managing Partner at lead investor Rhapsody Venture Partners.
The company has raised €8 million from a syndicate of VCs and private investors, as well as public funding.
Lead image of the team via SpinDrive. Photo:Uncredited.
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