BeFC team | Image credit: BeFC
France-based BeFC, a company that invented ecological biofuel cells that are paper-based, ultra-thin, and flexible, announced on Thursday, June 8, that it has raised €16M in a Series A round of funding.
The round was supported by Avolta Partners as the sole financial advisor. Otium Capital was the new lead investor in this round, and was supported by existing investors Demeter, BNP Paribas Développement, and Supernova Invest.
Pierre Menard, Partner at Otium Capital, says, “BeFC’s revolutionary innovation is poised to address the challenges of single-use batteries. The remarkable achievements of the team to date align perfectly with our DNA to support visionary entrepreneurs driving transformative change.”
“This investment further highlights our deep interest in high-potential industrial projects, a thesis we initiated last year, with already over €40M committed,” says Menard.
Making electricity with papers and enzymes
Inspired by implantable technologies, BeFC energy is created using biocatalysts that convert natural biofuels (glucose and oxygen) into electricity. Any fluid, such as environmental or biological fluids, can be used to activate the fuel cells.
BeFC claims that its fuel cells do not contain toxic or polluting chemicals and they do not interfere with existing recycling processes.
From industrial logistics to population health, BeFC technologies and services enable the installation of a digital interface using an active sensing platform to secure supply chains, optimise workload, and improve safety. This is accomplished while lowering both the cost and the environmental effect.
BeFC technology is appropriate for low-power applications such as those in which sensor data is gathered and processed sporadically using wireless protocols. Microprocessors and low-energy wireless communications (LoRa, Bluetooth, WiFi, etc.) can both be powered by BeFC products.
In addition to enabling the replacement of batteries for current applications, BeFC believes this strategy will provide new possibilities for Internet of Things (IoT), low-power ultra-thin health monitoring, and monitoring applications for logistics and transportation.
In 2020, BeFC raised €3M in a Seed round and was supported by Bpifrance and Ademe. This helped the firm to create prototype production facilities in France, bolster its IP portfolio with over 30 patents (a five-fold increase), assemble a competent staff, and present use cases in a variety of industry verticals.
BeFC has signed more than 10 Joint Development Agreements (JDAs) with major industry sector leaders such as Fortune 500, FTSE 100, and Nasdaq-listed firms, since its formation in May 2020.
Capital utilisation
BeFC says the current funding will help the company to move towards industrialisation.
The money will help the company to carry out its aim of producing low-cost, low-impact electronics by solidifying its strategy and pushing its growth trajectory towards mass manufacturing.
Transitioning to an ink-based system to exploit high throughput printing technology, BeFC’s goal is to attain a production capacity of 1 million units per day by the end of 2024.
BeFC will also use its resources to increase customer interaction and pursue new market segments that are within its performance and long-term interest scope.
The company says it will add experienced industry disruptors to its current staff of 45, with the goal of spreading the technology worldwide to North America and Asia.