Participated · Equity · Jul 2024

Strohm designs and produces thermoplastic composite pipe (TCP) systems used across conventional and renewable energy applications. The company traces its roots to 1995 when two aerospace engineers founded Airborne International and later developed TCP for Shell in 1999. It built a full-scale TCP production site in IJmuiden (Port of Amsterdam) in 2012 and rebranded to Strohm in October 2020. Strohm supplies high-end composite products to sectors including space, aerospace and offshore energy. The company recently secured €30M in equity funding to accelerate growth, especially in hydrogen and carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) applications. Management says the funding and new partnership will help scale its technologies and support expansion in energy transformation markets. Strohm manufactures Thermoplastic Composite Pipe (TCP), an unbonded, flexible, corrosion-resistant pipe system overwrapped with aramid or glass fibres and an outer thermoplastic coating for subsea transport of hydrogen, CO2 and other gases. The company positions TCP as a lightweight, long-length reelable solution that reduces installation cost and carbon footprint versus steel and is agnostic to fluids including hydrogen, ammonia and CO2. Strohm plans to use recent funding to accelerate manufacturing operations, increase capacity and support rollout into offshore green hydrogen and CCUS markets, while helping clients meet net-zero goals. Management cites the largest orderbook in the company's history and rapidly increased global sales as drivers for an accelerated growth path. The business employs about 170 people across facilities in IJmuiden, Houston, Kuala Lumpur and Rio de Janeiro and built a full-scale TCP production site in IJmuiden in 2012. Founded in 1995, Strohm has a track record of supplying TCP into harsh offshore conditions and recently won an order to supply over 11 km of TCP for a Wilhelmshaven green gas terminal project. Strohm produces thermoplastic composite pipe (TCP) designed to transport hydrogen, CO2, ammonia and water with flexibility and resistance to corrosion and embrittlement compared with steel. The company says TCP is more affordable than steel, is 100% recyclable, and produces around 50% fewer greenhouse gas emissions during manufacture. Strohm highlights TCP can transfer up to nine times the amount of energy compared to a cable and can be used to store hydrogen, increasing offshore wind farm uptime. It operates a full-scale production site in IJmuiden (Port of Amsterdam) built in 2012, became independent in 2014, and rebranded to Strohm in October 2020. Financially, Strohm announced a €14M first close led by HydrogenOne (a €10M investment) with participation from Shell Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, and Evonik Venture Capital, and anticipates a further close later in 2022. The company plans to use the proceeds to expand capacity at its Dutch manufacturing facility and advance its energy-transition agenda, targeting planned offshore green hydrogen and CCUS projects in the North Sea basin.

Participated · Series B · Jul 2014

Bright Computing provides integrated cluster management software—Bright Cluster Manager—for managing clusters and clouds used in high performance computing (HPC), storage, databases, Hadoop, and OpenStack. The product simplifies provisioning, operation, monitoring, management and scaling of clusters for DevOps and IT operations while supporting mission-critical workloads. Bright's software is used at over 400 customers and runs in over 500 data centers worldwide, including more than 20 Fortune 500 companies, government labs, and research institutes. The company partners with technology vendors such as Dell, Cisco, Cray and Amazon to deliver its software to customers. Bright plans to invest further in its flagship cluster management technology, prioritize Hadoop and OpenStack support, expand its global channel partners, and increase enterprise support levels. Founded in 2009, Bright is positioning itself to capture growth in cluster and cloud management across research, enterprise and government verticals. Bright Computing develops Bright Cluster Manager, cluster management software for high-performance computing that supports systems combining Intel/AMD processors with NVIDIA and other GPU technology. Its flagship product is used by research institutes, universities, and companies worldwide. The company is based in Amsterdam and maintains a US headquarters in San Jose, California. Bright received an investment from ING Corporate Investments, which acquired a minority stake for an undisclosed amount. The company plans to use the capital to expand its reseller network globally, grow direct sales capabilities in the US, and continue product development. No revenue or user metrics were disclosed in the article.

Participated · Equity · Jun 2014

Avantium is an Amsterdam-based company specialising in sustainable chemistry technologies. It focuses on developing and commercialising technologies aimed at sustainability within the chemical industry. The company launched a €65M capital increase through a fully committed and underwritten rights offering. The financing is intended to extend Avantium's financial runway until it reaches EBITDA break-even in 2027. The rights offering is structured as a fully underwritten equity raise to secure operations through that break-even target. The article does not disclose participating investors or prior funding rounds. Avantium develops renewable and circular polymer materials. The company is Dutch and based in Amsterdam. It recently secured €10M and has reached a conditional agreement with its lenders to extend and amend its existing Senior Debt Financing Agreement. Avantium is planning an equity raise scheduled for September 2025. The near-term financing activity centers on amendments to its senior debt and a forthcoming equity round. No other financial metrics or investor names were disclosed in the article. Avantium is an Amsterdam-based innovative chemical technology company advancing the YXY technology to produce 100% biobased packaging material PEF (polyethylenefuranoate). Its core product is PEF, described as a next-generation plastic with superior performance. The company intends to commercialize the YXY technology and roll out a reference plant with capacity of up to 50,000 metric tons per year in Antwerp, Belgium. Avantium has signed a letter of intent with BASF to establish a joint venture for production and marketing of the renewable chemical building block FDCA and for marketing of PEF. That joint venture intends to use the YXY process technology and subsequently license the technology for industrial-scale applications. Avantium is led by CEO Tom van Aken and recently closed a financing to support commercialization efforts. Avantium develops and commercializes YXY, a technology platform that catalytically converts plant-based materials into biobased chemicals and bioplastics such as PEF. PEF is a novel 100% biobased polyester with enhanced barrier, thermal and mechanical properties over existing packaging materials. The company supplies its technology development partners with PEF manufactured from material produced at its pilot plant in Geleen. Avantium closed a €36m financing round to support its development. It intends to use the funds to advance PEF, complete industrial validation and finalize the engineering and design of its first commercial-scale plant. The company is planning a 50,000-ton commercial plant projected to be operational in 2017 to enable the full commercial launch of the first PEF bottles to consumers. Avantium produces catalytic-derived furanics — bio-materials made from sugars or non-food carbohydrate sources — that serve as chemical building blocks for industrial plastics, textiles and fuels. The company is developing a 100 percent plant-based, fully recyclable polyester and aims to make it cost-competitive with petroleum-based equivalents. Avantium uses a catalytic process to convert carbohydrates into furanics that can replace petroleum-derived feedstocks. The new funding is earmarked in part to complete and begin operating a production plant in Geleen, the Netherlands, which had been expected to be operational earlier. Financially, Avantium raised EUR 30 million (about $43.9 million), including a EUR 25 million financing tranche plus a EUR 5 million subsidy/innovation credit from the Dutch Ministry of Economy, Agriculture and Innovation. Part of the round was also used to buy out shares held by several prior investors.

Participated · Equity · May 2012

Agendia develops and markets genomic diagnostic products for oncology, including the MammaPrint 70-gene risk-of-recurrence test and the BluePrint molecular subtyping test, both on microarray technology, plus a new MammaPrint BluePrint test on NGS. Led by CEO Mark R. Straley and based in Irvine, CA and Amsterdam, the company also has a pipeline of additional genomic products in development. Agendia collaborates with pharmaceutical companies, cancer centers and academic groups to develop companion diagnostics. The company plans to use new financing to accelerate commercial expansion in the U.S. and international markets and to increase adoption of its sequencing-based MammaPrint BluePrint kit. It will invest in Big Data programs, including full-genome profiling trials FLEX (U.S.) and PRECiSE (Netherlands), and establish collaborative research programs with academic institutions to advance its precision oncology pipeline. Agendia develops and markets genomic-based cancer diagnostic products, principally the Symphony™ suite of breast cancer tests including MammaPrint and BluePrint. MammaPrint is FDA‑cleared and is described in the release as the company’s flagship, fastest‑growing, cost‑effective breast cancer recurrence assay; Symphony also includes TargetPrint and TheraPrint for molecular subtyping and therapy selection. The company was formed in 2003 as a spin‑out from the Netherlands Cancer Institute and is privately owned. In March 2014 Norgine Ventures led a €15 million debt financing to help accelerate Agendia’s commercial expansion in the US, Europe and Asia. Agendia operates a direct sales team in the US, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria, with a distributor network servicing the rest of the world. The company maintains a pipeline of genomic products and collaborates with pharmaceutical companies, leading cancer centres and academic groups on companion diagnostics and trials such as ISPY‑2 and MINDACT. Agendia develops and markets genomic-based diagnostic products to help support physicians with complex treatment decisions. Its breast cancer Symphony suite includes MammaPrint (an FDA-cleared IVDMIA breast cancer recurrence assay), BluePrint, TargetPrint and TheraPrint. The company recently launched the Symphony suite and plans to expand its commercialization. Agendia is also developing a personalized medicine pipeline and is preparing to launch ColoPrint, a recurrence test for stage II colon cancer prognosis and prediction. The company is led by CEO David Macdonald and is based in Boston, MA. It raised $65M in equity financing to support these commercialization and development efforts. Agendia develops molecular diagnostic tests for cancer, including MammaPrint, an in vitro diagnostic multivariate index assay (IVDMIA). The company plans to use the recent proceeds to accelerate commercialization of MammaPrint in the U.S. market. Agendia announced the closing of a $23m Series E financing to support that effort. The round included a lead investment from an undisclosed firm that provided approximately 50% of the funds, two independent entrepreneurs who invested $1m each, and additional capital from the company’s existing investor base. Dr. Bernhard Sixt, President and CEO, commented that the proceeds will be used to accelerate U.S. commercialization. The company is based in Huntington Beach, California, and in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.