This is a decisive step that the start-up Vulkam and its president-co-founder Sébastien Gravier are preparing to experience. Created in 2017 on the university campus of Gières (Isère), in the suburbs of Grenoble, the SME will take the industrial plunge during the year, with the laying of the first stone of its future production factory in spring 2024.
It announced, Monday January 15, a fundraising of 34 million euros, including 14 million euros matched by the fund for industrial projects of Bpifrance, as part of the France 2030 plan. The roundtable also includes investors such as Groupe SEB, the Inco Ventures and UI Investissement funds, BNP Paribas and Crédit agricole.
Vulkam aims to become one of the artisans of “the revolution in metallurgy of the 21ste century “, according to its 44-year-old founder, a normalien by training and former researcher in mechanics specializing in metallurgy. Vulkam develops so-called “amorphous” metals, that is to say alloys whose atomic organization has been modified to make them more efficient.
Marketed under the name Vulkalloys, these metals are “three times stronger, twice as flexible and twice as light” than traditional ones, and provide high added value parts for the space, medical and luxury industries, particularly in watchmaking. “Our strategy is to start with small parts with very high technological precision, to then manufacture larger volumes, once the industrial tool has been optimized”explains Sébastien Gravier.
Environmental dimension
Vulkam was born within the Materials and Processes Science and Engineering Laboratory, dependent on the CNRS and the University of Grenoble. The start-up, which has already filed nine patents since 2017, will leave the prototyping stage to begin the industrialization phase of its processes, in particular that of high-precision thermomolding of metals, which makes it possible to manufacture unique parts.
A disruptive technology that has an environmental dimension: the manufacturing of Vulkalloys is done without fossil fuels – the fusion of metals is electric – and thermomolding allows the direct manufacturing, without additional machining operations and therefore waste, of parts of a few micrometers. Savings on raw materials and CO2 amount, according to the company, to 50% and 30% respectively compared to conventional metallurgy.
The 3,000 square meter factory which will be built in Versoud (Isère), a few kilometers from Grenoble, must be operational in 2025, with the objective of producing 2 million pieces in the first year, and 4 million from 2026, for a desired turnover of 25 million euros by the same deadline. “Our fundraising should allow us to set up an automated production line, with an increase in the quantities produced and long-term profitability”explains Mr. Gravier.
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