OliKrom, destined to become the world leader in intelligent pigments

The start-up OliKrom, based in Pessac, has just raised 4.5 million euros in funding and aims to reach an industrial milestone...

Jean-François Létard, CNRS research director and owner of Olikrom in Pessac - OliKrom

• OliKrom designs pigments (inks, paints) that change color depending on their environment
• The company has numerous industrial outlets, particularly in the aeronautics industry
• OliKrom wants to consolidate its technological lead with this round of financing.

OliKrom, a Bordeaux-based start-up specializing in smart pigments that react to temperature, light and pressure, announced on Tuesday that it had raised €4.5 million to accelerate its industrial development.

The smart pigments developed by OliKrom make it possible to create inks and paints that are sensitive to changes in their environment. The coatings change color when there is a disturbance in temperature, light, pressure, solvent or gas.

OliKrom products are the result of 16 years of research and development by Jean-François Létard, its founder and president, as a researcher at the CNRS.

The start-up has won contracts with Airbus Group, Turbomeca and Safran. For these aeronautics manufacturers, the aim is to implant these pigments in their composite materials. A shock to the surface of an aircraft will thus be more easily detected thanks to the change in color.

For individuals, we can imagine walls whose paint changes color depending on the time of day.

The pigments inserted in the paints proposed by Olikrom change color depending on the light - OliKrom

 

The pigments inserted in the paints proposed by Olikrom change color depending on the pressure - OliKrom

OliKrom, soon a new headquarters in Pessac

The funds raised will be used to finance OliKrom's new site in Pessac, which is scheduled to be operational by early July and will house the company's headquarters, R&D center and a pilot production unit. "We are also going to consolidate the company's technological lead with the ambition of becoming the world leader in intelligent pigments," says Jean-François Létard.

Supporters of this new development phase are the French funds Starquest Capital - OliKrom's historical investor - and Social Family, as well as Bpifrance (Banque Publique d'Investissement), the Banque Populaire Aquitaine Centre Atlantique (BPACA), the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region and the ADEME "Route du Futur" program.