[L’USINE NOUVELLE] OliKrom raises €4.5 million

Strategic fund-raising to accelerate industrialization of OliKrom

French funds Starquest Capital and Social Family, Bpifrance, Banque Populaire Aquitaine Centre Atlantique (BPACA), the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region and Ademe’s “Route du Futur” program participated in the round.

The Gironde-based SME specializing in intelligent pigments that react to temperature, light or pressure has raised 4.5 million euros, it announced in mid-June. French funds Starquest Capital and Social Family, Bpifrance, Banque Populaire Aquitaine Centre Atlantique (BPACA), the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region and Ademe’s “Route du Futur” program participated in the round. These funds will enable OliKrom to begin pre-industrialization of the company’s processes and innovations.

Founded in 2014, the company is due to commission its first industrial site in early July in Pessac, Gironde. It will include a pilot production unit, the R&D center and OliKrom’s head office. Jean-François Létard, founder and Chairman of OliKrom, explains that “in recent months, our growth has accelerated even further with the ADEME’s ‘Road of the Future’ program, which we won with Eiffage. We urgently needed to reinforce our teams – 14 employees to date – and to equip ourselves with a high-performance industrial tool capable of absorbing a strong increase in activity”. According to Jean-François Létard, this fund-raising will also enable the company to “consolidate its technological lead, with the ambition of becoming the world leader in intelligent pigments”.