Led · Equity · Nov 2025

Leclanché develops and manufactures lithium-ion battery cells and packs, targeting electric-mobility and stationary-storage markets. The company plans to expand its Willstätt (Germany) factory to 2 GWh of annual output, a project that has just secured major support from the EU Innovation Fund. While it has obtained a €74.2 million grant commitment, the funds are contingent on Leclanché demonstrating an additional €141.3 million in financing by the end of June 2026. Management is therefore in active discussions with strategic and financial partners and is also arranging short-term bridge financing to keep operations running. A previously announced investment from Pinnacle International Venture Capital Limited collapsed, leaving the firm’s near-term liquidity uncertain. Operationally, Leclanché is concentrating on permitting, supplier contracts and other execution steps required to bring the Willstätt expansion online. The company cautions that it cannot yet guarantee sufficient funding to sustain operations through mid-2026.

Participated · Grant · Sep 2023

Spanish startup bound4blue designs and manufactures eSAIL®, a thick-profile, suction-assisted rigid sail that provides auxiliary wind propulsion for maritime vessels. Independently verified trials show fuel and emission reductions of 15–20 % on Odfjell’s Bow Olympus, with peaks up to 40 %, and daily fuel savings of up to 5.4 t on the Ville de Bordeaux ro-ro ship. The company has already installed its sails on seven ships and holds orders for twelve more, representing more than 50 eSAIL units. Customers include Maersk Tankers, Eastern Pacific Shipping, Odfjell, Klaveness Combination Carriers and BW Epic Kosan. With parallel production lines planned in Spain and China, bound4blue aims to manufacture several hundred sails annually and projects annual CO₂ savings exceeding 400,000 t by 2027. The newly raised capital positions the firm to transition from technology validation to full industrial scale-up while continuing R&D on additional wind-propulsion solutions.

Led · Equity · Jan 2023

Sono Motors, founded in 2016 in Munich, develops solar integration technology for vehicles and originally built the Sion solar‑panelled EV. The Sion was designed with 248 solar cells across the exterior and was projected to add about 112 km of range per week; manufacturing had been slated to start in mid‑2023 but manufacturing costs proved challenging. In July 2022 Sono launched a Solar Bus Kit for buses, trucks and refrigerated vehicles that can save up to 1,500 litres of diesel and up to 4 tonnes of CO2 per bus per year and has an expected payback of roughly three to four years. The company has raised over $126.6 million in funding and had over 22,131 reservations for the Sion. Sono entered self‑administration in May 2023 but has signed investment agreements intended to allow it to restructure and continue its solar integration business through at least the end of 2024. The firm is prioritizing the market launch of the Solar Bus Kit while continuing development and marketing of its solar integration technology for refrigerated vehicles, last‑mile delivery vans and passenger cars. Sono Motors develops proprietary vehicle-integrated photovoltaic (ViPV) solar technology engineered to be integrated into a variety of vehicle architectures, including buses, trucks, trailers and passenger cars. The company promotes the Sion as a potential affordable solar electric vehicle and has approximately 21,000 reservations with advance deposits as of 30 November 2022. Sono has grown its intellectual property to 50 patents granted or filed, 42 of which relate to its solar technology. The firm is engaged in the SEAMLESS-PV project to advance automated PV manufacturing and industrialize novel manufacturing processes for cost-efficiency and standardization. Financially, the company has received payment commitments from its community and other sources totaling approximately €45 million during its ongoing #savesion campaign. Sono Motors is listed on NASDAQ (SEV) and is headquartered in Munich. Sono Motors is a Munich-based electric car startup founded in 2016 that is developing the Sion, an EV with solar cells integrated across the hood, roof and body to recharge throughout the day. The company says the Sion can be preordered worldwide for €16,000 (battery excluded) and is slated to be available in 2019, launching in 29 countries. Sono has amassed 8,586 reservations for the Sion. Financially, the company is running an active equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs that is about to surpass €6 million from 645 investors; it previously raised over €1.8 million in a separate Seedrs round and secured €549,895 on Indiegogo. Sono frames its long-term plan as becoming a global mobility and energy service provider within ten years with the goal of reducing CO₂ emissions and vehicle production volumes. The product and strategy emphasize resource-conserving, everyday-suitable mobility solutions.