Airec successfully completes second financing round

• Airec, leading developer and manufacturer of highly efficient, compact and cost-effective plate heat exchangers, secures additional equity from existing investors led by Innogy Venture Capital.
• The second financing round, totally close to 20 million SEK (around 2.1 million Euros), supports further company growth and new innovative product lines.

Essen, Malmö, 29th January 2015

Swedish company Airec AB provides their customers with compact, efficient and cost-effective liquid-to-gas plate heat exchangers. The innovative asymmetrical plate heat exchanger designs have proven outstanding customer value in several applications compared to state of the art technology. Shifting to Airec’s technology can lead its customers to energy savings and CO2-emissions reductions of up to 35 per cent. The Malmö-based company has now secured close to 20 million SEK (approximately 2.1 million Euros) for the financing of its rapid global expansion. This will be focused on sales to original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and joint projects with international companies to integrate Airec’s technology into their high volume products. Furthermore, Airec aims to start the commercialisation of a new innovative product line suitable for new applications and markets. The second financing round has been led by Innogy Venture Capital. Other existing investors, like Swedish investment funds Industrifonden and TeknoSeed, as well as the founder and the chairman of Airec, have also participated in the capital increase.

Sven Persson, founder and CEO of Airec, commented: “We are delighted about the successful closing of the financing round and the trust of our investors. After a successful year 2014 with positive EBITDA and sales growth over 60 per cent in our brazed plate heat exchanger product lines, the funding will enable Airec to continue the global sales growth and to even better support its customers and partners with innovative heat exchangers that make a difference.”

Airec’s heat exchangers can extract and transfer heat much more efficiently than conventional products. Due to their very compact and space-saving design, they can be integrated into various types of energy systems. Airec’s products are, for example, ideally suited for the use in small decentralised combined heat and power plants (CHP plants) as well as for excess heat recovery systems.

Crispin Leick, Managing Director of Innogy Venture Capital, explained: “Since the first investment round in 2011 Airec has developed into a technology leader in innovative heat exchanger design and has not only developed new solutions but also successfully integrated them into OEM products. The Airec team, led by the founder Sven Persson, has convinced us with strong sales growth in innovative product lines and achieved market leadership in small decentralised CHP applications. We are very much looking forward to participate in – and support – Airec’s activities to create international paradigm changes in different applications with its technology.”

Airec is a Malmö-based developer and manufacturer of compact, efficient and cost-effective plate heat exchangers. Since 2006 the company has developed a range of products suitable for several applications (e.g. micro and mini CHP plants, compressed air units, intercoolers, low pressure steam flows, cryogenic coolers). The asymmetrical design allows fulfilling the most demanding heat transfer duties. Airec’s technology really makes a difference, both regarding superior performance, delivered customer value with huge energy savings and CO2-emissions reductions. The company is active worldwide with special focus on OEM sales and joint projects with global companies to integrate Airec’s technology into their products and systems.

Innogy Venture Capital is a fund management company specialised in distributed energy solutions. The company focuses on investments in European startup companies that provide solutions and new business models shaping the future energy market. With a final closing size of EUR 115 million, the currently managed "Innogy Renewables Technology Fund I" is a leading early stage investor in this segment in Europe. The fund's sponsors are RWE Innogy and CEE Holding. RWE Innogy pools within the German utility RWE the expertise for construction and operation of renewable energy generation assets. CEE Holding is an investment company of Bankhaus Lampe Group, focusing on renewable energy generation.

www.innogy-ventures.com

Industrifonden invests in small and medium-sized Swedish companies with international growth potential. The Fund takes a long-term approach, usually in partnership with entrepreneurs and other investors. Industrifonden has assets of SEK 3.7 billion and investments in around 90 companies in technology, cleantech, life science and industry.

www.industrifonden.se

TeknoSeed Portfolio Management is a venture capital firm based in southern Sweden, with focus on high growth technology based start-ups. Since inception in 1997, TeknoSeed has made more than 30 investments in companies within the ICT, Life Science and Technology sectors.

www.teknoseed.se