Lappeenranta, Finland (October 21st, 2021) – Finnish cleantech company SpinDrive has raised 1.6 M€ in pre-Series A funding round.

SpinDrive improves the energy efficiency of industrial processes by providing active magnetic bearings to equipment manufacturers easily and affordably. Magnetic bearings are digital bearings that enable to reach the highest possible rotational speed and completely eliminate friction. SpinDrive solution reduces rotating equipment lifecycle costs by 35%.

The round is led by Finnish venture capital firm Innovestor. It is supported by SpinDrive seed round investor Butterfly Ventures. German investor Born2Grow has joined the round strengthening company’s position in the Western European market. Impact investor SDGx from Australia supported the round verifying the enormous CO2 mitigation potential of SpinDrive solution and alignment with UN Sustainable Development Goals. SpinDrive will leverage the private investment with soft funding.

Janne Heikkinen, CEO and co-founder of SpinDrive says, “Carbon neutral future can be built only on breakthrough innovations and technologies. Our digital bearings revolutionize the traditional bearing industry. We help our customers to save money by improving their energy efficiency and significantly decreasing the regular maintenance needs.”

Innovestor Partner Myron Seto adds, “We are excited to work with SpinDrive’s highly motivated team. Thus far, they have demonstrated excellent execution capabilities to bring the company to where it is today. Together, we hope to help them quickly penetrate a huge addressable market. Furthermore, Innovestor firmly believes that venture capital should play an essential role in creating a more sustainable future.

SpinDrive’s magnetic levitation technology enables highly improved operational efficiency, reducing energy and material waste in industries. We are thrilled to play a part in reaching a carbon-neutral future."

SpinDrive will use the funding primarily for enhancing the sales and growing the customers’ base. The company will accelerate the serial production of the new generation magnetic bearing controller Magma®. SpinDrive will ensure smooth integration and operation of the magnetic bearing systems with existing customers.

“The electrification of industrial motors is advancing in leaps and bounds, necessitating ever more efficient bearing technologies. SpinDrive's active magnetic bearings (AMBs) technology for OEMs excited us from the start,” said Thomas R. Villinger, CEO of ZFHN Zukunftsfonds Heilbronn. “In Germany and the Heilbronn region, in particular, there are a large number of world market leaders in the field of turbocompressors, turbo blowers, small turbines and turbo expanders that are highly relevant for SpinDrive's AMBs. We are pleased to support SpinDrive in its market penetration in Germany and Europe and look forward to future cooperation,” Villinger continues.

SpinDrive is hiring and the new open position may be found at SpinDrive webpage: https://spindrive.fi/.

About SpinDrive

SpinDrive improves the energy efficiency of industrial processes by providing active magnetic bearings to equipment manufacturers. SpinDrive solution increases system efficiency by at least 10%, which enables a 2-year payback time. SpinDrive system is completely maintenance-free, which reduces the overall equipment maintenance costs by 80%. We eliminate the need for oil lubrication, which provides manufacturers an opportunity to enter new markets. Our built-in sensors enable condition monitoring of the whole unit.

About Innovestor

Innovestor is a Nordic early-stage venture capital investor and corporate venturing services provider. The firm currently manages three VC funds, representing one of the largest private venture-backed portfolios in the Nordics and consisting of almost 100 growth companies in multiple fields of technology such as consumer, enterprise software, industrial tech, and health & life science. For more information, visit www.innovestorgroup.com.

About Butterfly Ventures

Butterfly Ventures is one of the leading seed-stage focused VCs in the Nordics founded in 2012. Butterfly Ventures is investing in deep tech, hardware and hardware interfacing software startups. Known for its co-operative approach, Butterfly Ventures is investing not only in Finnish seed stage startups but also in Nordic and Baltics firms.

About Born2Grow

BORN2GROW (B2G) is a Heilbronn-based and internationally active seed fund concentrating on investments in fast-growing start-ups in advanced technologies such as life sciences, artificial intelligence and machine learning, internet of things, new materials, hardware and robotics. B2G is a subsidiary company of ZFHN Zukunftsfonds Heilbronn, a single family office, which for almost 20 years has been investing in technology-related start-ups and high-growth companies in Europe, Israel, Asia and the USA as they become ready for the market.

About SDGx

SDGx is an international ecosystem that invests in deep technology talent and matches them with growth opportunities to drive scale, revenues and SDG-aligned positive impact. SDGx do integral investments in deep technology scale-ups supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

SpinDrive. October 21st, 2021

Full Press Release you can find here: https://spindrive.fi/spindrive-raises-pre-series-a-funding-round-led-by-innovestor/