June 1, 2020
PAO Severstal (MICEX-RTS: CHMF; LSE: SVST), one of the world’s largest
vertically integrated steel and mining companies, announces that it has led a
second tranche of investment into Dutch company Airborne, a global leader in
developing digital automation platforms for the production of composite parts,
and products with integrated composites. The total investment in Airborne has
already amounted to several tens of millions of dollars.
In spite of the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to
many venture projects on the global market being placed on hold, Severstal led
the new investment in Airborne with support of existing shareholders including
HPE Growth.
In addition, Severstal and Airborne have entered into an exclusive
technology partnership agreement in Russia. Under the terms of the agreement,
Severstal will be Airborne’s first-choice partner within Russia for the
implementation of all composite projects, including the automated production of
composite parts.
Andrey Laptev, Director of Business Development and Corporate Venture
Projects at Severstal, commented:
“COVID-19 has intensified the need for, and general trend towards,
automation across most industries. Where before we were pursuing digitalization
with the aim of increasing our internal efficiency levels, we are now driven by
a necessity to guarantee the epidemiological safety of our people, and
safeguard the continuity of our production processes. Composites manufacturing
is difficult to automate, but Airborne’s solutions have the potential to
disrupt the market significantly. For instance, Airborne technology simplifies
mass production and launch of spaceships: sandwich panels with any core and any
face sheet material can be manufactured on one automated manufacturing line.
Despite the current cirumstances, it is vitally important to support
entrepreneurs engaged in breakthrough technologies. Therefore, Severstal
Ventures decided to lead on this latest investment tranche to Airborne. In
addition, we aim to bring promising companies to the Russian market and help
them to deploy their technologies here. I believe that the agreement we have
signed will launch Airborne projects in Russia for Severstal and our
clients”.
Ilya Pavlov, project manager at Severatl Ventures, added:
“Now the whole world is impressed by the launch of Crew Dragon spacecraft
from SpaceX to the ISS. The commercial space industry is gaining momentum, and
Airborne’s breakthrough solutions will undoubtedly accelerate this race.
Severstal has been contributing to the development of cosmonautics for many
years, supplying steel with special properties for the construction and
installation of critical facilities at the Vostochny cosmodrome”.
Airborne has developed and brought to market a unique set of digital
technologies that increase the efficiency of carbon fiber composite production
by automating the production process. The company is in the process of
commercialising the automated production cells and software. At its facilities
in the Netherlands and the UK, Airborne manufactures composite products for a
broad range of sectors including the automotive, construction, shipbuilding,
aerospace, electronics and wind power industries.
