Munich — Carbon manu­fac­tu­rer Black­wave from Tauf­kir­chen has successfully comple­ted a second round of finan­cing with the support of the startup network BayStartUP. While the former share­hol­ders Cera­vis and Unger Capi­tal Manage­ment have increased their invest­ments, two new inves­tors, Profes­sor Rudolf Schwarz, owner of IABG, and CK Venture Capi­tal GmbH from Munich with the busi­ness angels Conny Hörl and Katja Ruhnke, have joined the company. In total, Black­wave was able to raise a seven-figure sum with the help of BayStartUP to expand the current 16-member team and signi­fi­cantly increase its production.

Black­wave is a company in the light­weight cons­truc­tion sector that deve­lops and produ­ces highly complex compon­ents made of carbon that cannot be manu­fac­tu­red using conven­tio­nal produc­tion methods. The compon­ents are charac­te­ri­zed by low weight as well as high stabi­lity. In addi­tion, Black­wave is also expe­ri­men­ting with new approa­ches to incor­po­rate screws, holes and threads in the produc­tion process to expand the range of appli­ca­ti­ons for its products.

“The comple­ted finan­cing round was an important step for us to turn our ambi­tious goals into reality,” said Bastian Behrens, CEO at Black­wave. “We will use the money both to open up further markets, such as medi­cal tech­no­logy, and to further auto­mate our produc­tion to become even more compe­ti­tive. Of course, the current econo­mic situa­tion also has an impact on our company. It’s reassu­ring to know that our inves­tors are fully behind us even now.”

Katja Ruhnke (photo), CEO at CK Venture Capi­tal GmbH, says: “I became aware of Black­wave through BayStartUP. Above all, the untap­ped poten­tial of carbon fiber-rein­forced plas­tics in the field of light­weight cons­truc­tion fasci­na­ted me from the very begin­ning. Moreo­ver, behind the name Black­wave is a highly moti­va­ted team that has alre­ady maste­red a number of chal­lenges in an outstan­ding manner. Black­wave meets all the requi­re­ments to be successful in the long term and to become a leader in light­weight construction.”

Whether in aero­space, auto­mo­tive, sports, mecha­ni­cal engi­nee­ring or medi­cal tech­no­logy, compa­nies in these sectors are always on the lookout for ways to save weight, costs, fuel or mini­mize the amount of force requi­red. At the same time, the compon­ents must be extre­mely resistant to defor­ma­tion and tempe­ra­ture fluc­tua­tions. In space travel, compon­ents must be able to with­stand tempe­ra­tures from ‑150 to +175 degrees Celsius without beco­ming brittle or deforming. The Black­wave company specia­li­zes in solving precis­ely these requi­re­ments and, as an inno­va­tion driver, is play­ing a decisive role in shaping the field of light­weight construction.

Blackwave’s busi­ness centers on carbon fiber rein­forced plas­tic and a manu­fac­tu­ring process that uses pres­sure and heat to press the mate­rial into shape. The result is compon­ents that come from a single mold and are very resi­li­ent. Previous manu­fac­tu­ring proces­ses only allo­wed the produc­tion of simple, flat geome­tries, which consider­a­bly limits the areas of appli­ca­tion for carbon. Blackwave’s carbon compon­ents can not only replace metal­lic compon­ents, they are also ligh­ter and more resi­li­ent. Examp­les from space travel show that each kilo­gram of payload causes 30 to 100 kg of addi­tio­nal weight for rocket and fuel. Conver­sely, a kilo­gram of weight saved can be worth seve­ral thousand euros. The new manu­fac­tu­ring process also provi­des more design opti­ons. Dril­ling holes to insert screws and threads into carbon compon­ents inju­res the fiber struc­ture and weak­ens the stabi­lity of the mate­rial. Black­wave can inte­grate func­tional elements into the manu­fac­tu­ring process, which opens up comple­tely new indus­trial appli­ca­tion possi­bi­li­ties and enables custo­mers to deve­lop inno­va­tive products with enhan­ced functionalities.

Black­wave foun­ders Bastian Behrens and Raphael Setz met at the Tech­ni­cal Univer­sity of Munich at the Formula Student Team. “We have very ambi­tious goals. In the short term, we will really ramp up produc­tion again and addi­tio­nally auto­mate it. This means that we will also be able to handle large series produc­tion. In the long term, we want to have our own carbon part in space by 2026 and take on a pionee­ring role in the field of complex and highly func­tional carbon compo­si­tes,” says Bastian Behrens, CEO of Blackwave.

To date, its custo­mers include renow­ned compa­nies from the aero­space, auto­mo­tive and sports sectors, inclu­ding Airbus, ESA, MT Aero­space, Pratt & Whit­ney as well as Porsche and M GmbH.

About BayStartUP
BayStartUP is the Bava­rian startup network for foun­ders, inves­tors and compa­nies. With the Bava­rian Busi­ness Plan Compe­ti­ti­ons, an exten­sive coaching offer and Europe’s largest inves­tor network, it supports start­ups in opti­mi­zing their stra­tegy, buil­ding their busi­ness and finding start-up and growth capi­tal. For private and insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors, BayStartUP ensu­res a quali­fied deal flow and offers startup insights at exclu­sive busi­ness angel meetings and inves­tor confe­ren­ces. With nati­on­wide startup indus­try matchings and concep­tual offers, BayStartUP advi­ses estab­lished compa­nies on the deve­lo­p­ment of suita­ble stra­te­gies for coope­ra­tion with start­ups. Through BayStartUP, foun­ders have cont­act oppor­tu­ni­ties with around 300 active busi­ness angels as well as over 100 insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors. Since 2015, BayStartUP has broke­red over €263 million in capi­tal in 259 actively mana­ged finan­cing rounds, each with a volume of between €50,000 and €6 million. Compa­nies supported by BayStartUP are active on the market with more than 13,100 employees and gene­rate a turno­ver of almost 1.4 billion euros (as of 2017). These include eight IPOs and success stories such as Flix­bus, eGym, Maga­zino, Voxel­jet, numa­res, Transpo­reon and va-Q-tec AG.

About Black­wave
Black­wave deve­lops and produ­ces complex light­weight compon­ents with sophisti­ca­ted 3D geome­tries from carbon for compa­nies in the auto­mo­tive, aero­space, sports equip­ment and mecha­ni­cal engi­nee­ring sectors. The tech­no­logy, which is based on the prin­ci­ple of hot extru­sion, enables signi­fi­cant weight savings while keeping costs low. The company, based in Tauf­kir­chen, was foun­ded in 2016 and has alre­ady been able to file a promi­sing patent in the field of carbon SMC. www.blackwave.de.