Fonroche is a french cleantech company which is one of the leading manufacturers design and produce complete systems in France for the production of solar energy. Its research and development department is now at the forefront of technological innovations on the market.

PRESENTATION

Founded in 2008 by Yann Maus, Fonroche is based in Roquefort, Lot-et-Garonne. The company ensures the manufacture of photovoltaic modules with a production expecting to meet the highest demands in terms of efficiency, durability and weather resistance.Fonroche displays the highest standards for quality product and quality service : skilled jobs, funding, innovation. Presently, the company expect to cover three parts of the value chain (assembly panels, installation, exploitation).

INNOVATION

Fonroche displays its determination to develop employment and innovation for businesses and individuals. Fonroche is also a strong promoter of sustainable development. It commits itself to optimizing its carbon footprint in panel production as well as contributing to the preservation of nature. For example, the company plants one tree for each panel that it produces (representing more than one million trees over five years), establishes educational programs and fights against deforestation in the Amazon.

MARKET

The company is focusing on installation of photovoltaic panels for professional clients and public entities.The company is developing partneships with recognized subcontractors in the building sector. Fonroche is also focusing on installation of photovoltaic panels for residential clients and is developing BIPV system sales and installation for individuals, directly or with franchisees through the Habitat Solaire network ( installations < 3 kW).

STRATEGY

Regarding its photovoltaic panels fabrication, Fonroche has signed a partnership with Pevafersa, number 3 spanish player in panel and cell fabrication.The company also recently opened in early June 2010 a second production line fully automated. Through this strategy, the company will be France’s largest assembler of panels by the end of 2010.

Regarding its installation activity and solar farm operations, Fonroche ’s objective is to develop a portfolio of directly held BIPV systems of 300 MWc. To boost this strategy, the company recently received €50 million in an equity deal from Eurazeo, a leading investment companies listed in Europe. Through this investment, Fonroche will finance strategic investments and facilities for key sectors of the economy which are other than agriculture, industry, services and local authorities. The agreement includes an immediate initial investment of €25 million and a commitment from Eurazeo to invest an additional €25 million before the end of 2011.

SOURCES

The Stockholm Cleantech Venture Day combines the exhibition of 25 selected European Cleantech companies with presentations of their investment cases (pitching) along with a few interesting speakers as well as generous time for meetings – all held in the Kista Science Tower, Stockholm. The main theme of this year’s conference is: ”Cleantech Solutions for a Sustainable City” where it encourage all companies providing solutions for renewable energy, energy efficiency improvements, carbon dioxide emission reductions, energy storage, green IT and smart grid applications as well as water monitoring and treatment, waste management and air pollution reductions.

This event is a great opportunity for French Cleantech companies to reach out to a wide audience of investors and Cleantech professionals from across the world in case you are in the process of fund raising, and also to gain international visibility. Internationally well-known Cleantech entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, public financiers and policy makers from across the world will share their views and experience through presentations, panel debates and networking side events.

The participation fee is SEK 2, 000 and includes the following: 

- Participation for one company representative during the full event (including welcoming reception, conference day, networking lunch and gala dinner). You will also have the opportunity to bring a second participant to the cost of SEK 1,000. 

- Your company will have 2 minutes pitching time to the audience of leading Swedish and international investors (VC and equity) – a teaser that benefit further contacts during the day. There will be mandatory pitch training with our professional coaches in Kista on the 29th of September (the day before the main event). Your company will be one of 25 companies from across Europe that gets this opportunity. 

- An exhibition space in the networking area, including a high table, wireless Internet and electricity (you will be required to bring a roll-up). 

- A chance to be the winner of the “Cleantech Company of the Year Award” – a prize of SEK 100,000 presented at the evening dinner to the best of the selected 25 companies exhibited during the day. 

Selection process : 

- The company should have a product or service ready and market proven from earlier installations made by paying customers

- The company should have at least some initial on-going turnover from sales from several customers.

- The company should have an organisation in place including sales capacity and a board of directors with partially external directors.

- The company should have minimum one year’s of audited annual report.

- The company should have an initial funding (public or private) where other authorities/investors have approved the project.

- The company should have reached a “middle expansion phase” where funding and new investments are sought for further growth. 

If you are interested, please apply before the 30th of June 2010. Please be available on the telephone number entered in the application form for additional inquiries from the evaluation committee. The selection of the 25 Cleantech companies will be announced by the middle of July 2010. If you have any questions regarding the evaluation process, please contact Magnus Rehn, te :+46 (0)70 512 05 48

To apply, please fill in a short form following the link below:

Stockholm Cleantech Venture Day 

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SYSTOVI is a french independent manufacturer of solar panels and photovoltaic systems, specialized in BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaic).Based in Nantes, SYSTOVI ambition to offer innovating integrated photovoltaic solutions . To establish this strategy SYSTOVI has invested several million euros in an assembly line of cells and the company differentiates itself by designing its own systems integration knowing that most of which are patented.

PRESENTATION

SYSTOVI has put barely a year out its first solar panels at its plant. Based in Nantes and created by three partners, the company announced its first year sales of 4 million euros with 20 employees. The dazzling success of the company is that photovoltaic panels are manufactured in France and are fully integrated into the roof. These solar panels are primarily photovoltaic systems last generation able to produce electricity but also serve as a cover for the roof, insulate the building and enlightening. 

INNOVATION

SYSTOVI innovative system uses photovoltaic cells to silicon German Bosch Solar, natural ventilation, which maintains a temperature of 25 ° C inside the solar panel while guaranteeing perfect airtightness and water. The price of an installation comprising an average score of photovoltaic panels is about  € 21 000. A cost quite affordable if one considers that French legislation strongly encourages the use of integrated panels to the frame with a redemption of electricity price . 

MARKET 

The company is expecting a strong market growth for 2010 with prices down sharply (due to overproduction of silicon). A turnover of 20 million is expected on 2010. 

STRATEGY 

The company launched its first production line in October and announced on 2009, a turnover of 4 million euros. SYSTOVI has already 7 specialised resellers (sanitary, heating, electrical equipment and coverage, renewable energy) in the west of France. The management team wish to cover France  before end of March 2010.

FINANCIALS

Former leaders of Saunier Duval in Nantes, the three founders brought with them two industrials

• Yann Rolland, CEO Bel’m 
• Bruno Hug Larauze CEO MTTM (10% stake),
•  A capital investor Ouest Croissance (27%) 
• The Association of Business Angels Abab (9%). 

SOURCES

Market expectations of the plastics Industry are at 3 levels: product development, “green” (associated with a production process environmentally Benin), replacing toxic molecules by mineral particles and bringing of new features in products.

The emergence of solutions, such as those proposed by a french company named PYLOTE should enable the plastics sector to be more open to micro and nano. Indeed, Pylote has developed an expertise in Micro & Nano materials that allow it to design particles spherical high purity and deagglomerated. These materials will replace the existing products (chlorine, bromine, halogenated …) affecting pollutant and harmful for the environment . 

Pylote offers a catalog of properties (UV, anti fire, antibacterial, …) or customized to meet needs (luminescence, thermal insulation, special mechanical properties, …). For Industrial, it saves time by reducing the concept of validation within 3 months and optimize their innovation programs. The company assist its clients at each step of their value chain up to industrial production. The company has integrated the technical committee Afnor Nanotechnology (Working Group on the Standardization) and that ORDIMIP on waste management of nanomaterials. A scientific and technical partnership closely linked Pylote Center for Materials Elaboration and Structural Studies (CEMES), the CNRS Laboratory of Toulouse.

Pylote is supported by Incubateur Midi-Pyrenees and was winner of the competition companies innovative technologies in 2007 (emerging category) and 2008 (class creation and development).

An innovative metallization process that reduces the need for chemicals and the generation of wastewater.

This french  company offers an innovative, non-polluting technology for metal plating with an aqueous spray system. This totally new, patented technique makes it possible to metallize any surface by simultaneously spraying two aerosols, respectively containing an aqueous solution with metal cation (metallic salt) and an aqueous solution with a reducing agent. The mixture of these two solutions creates an oxidation-reduction reaction on the surface, forming an even, continuous metallic film. Jet Metal is commercializing a faster metallization process developed at the Laboratoire de Tribologie et Dynamique des Systèmes at l’Ecole Centrale Lyon.

Electroplating and vacuum deposition technologies are the most common metallization technologies today. But the coatings industry is facing stricter environmental controls on chemical waste and energy consumption. Jet Metal says the process meets those needs because it removes the need for highly polluting sulfochromic preparation treatments, reduces the quantities of reagents used, minimizes the generation of wastewater, and uses no VOCs.

The process removes steps, which can save time and money. Additionally, the process occurs at room temperature using basic painting tools.Jet Metal says the technology creates a synergy between the simplicity of painting techniques and the sophistication of metal plating coatings.In its patented metallization process, two aerosols are simultaneously projected onto substrates to react and form a homogeneous and continuous metal film.  The process can be used for a variety of metal coatings—including copper, nickel, cobalt or gold—and on a variety of substrates, such as metals, plastics, glass, ceramics, textiles, and wood. The process has applications in a number of industries, including cosmetics, glass, automotive, aerospace and appliances. 

Jet Metal Technologies raised €2.5 million for its new coating technology that reduces the need for chemicals and the generation of wastewater. The funds came from Viveris, Schneider Electric Ventures, Naxicap Partners and Rhône Alpes Création.

For some time now, the paper industry has been looking for a new technology that facilitates efficient and effective sorting of mixed paper streams. This is why Pellenc ST and its R&D team developed Boreas, a system that can distinguish different sorts of paper and cardboard using a single infrared lighting unit, while at the same time identifying foreign materials (plastics and metals). In this way, the system ensures the reusability of the paper. The Boreas system from Pellec ST was launched in 2007, and since then it has been put into service at many sites inside and outside Europe.

The Boreas system can sort up to 8 metric tons of paper per hour. It is fed by a conveyor belt with a speed of 2.5 to 4.5 metres per second. For scanning and analysing the infeed paper, the system has a sensor that records measurement data at the rate of 2.3 million points per second. It can recognise objects with dimensions of 80 mm or larger, and it can eject them according to predefined criteria.

The Boreas system from Pellenc ST achieves a yield that is up to 90% higher than all competitive systems. The loss of usable material is thus kept to a minimum. This is excellent news for paper sorting centres, which can use the Boreas system to sort different types of paper and remove undesirable materials from the paper stream. It is also an attractive investment for paper mills, since it can help them select paper sorts with the right quality for their de-inking systems.

Source : PELLENC Selective technologies

More information on : www.pellencst.com

Climpact is a spin off from the Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, the leading French research center on climate and is related to several other institutions : CEA, CNRS,Polytechnique, the IRD, the UPMC and the UVSQ. The Company sell past and forecasted climate indexes to quantify the historical financial impact of climate events on businesses and help decision making by anticipating future events. The indexes are established by an in house system combining business data with climate observations and forecasts (daily to six month ahead) from several meteorological centres (European and US). Our clients run businesses with high climate exposure and belong to the food and beverage, financial, insurance and re insurance, tourism, and retail sectors. The indexes are available through our web based plateform for an annual fee.

Climpact secures € 1M from Elaia Parnters to reinforce its R&D and Professional Services teams, increase its sales in France and prepare for European deployment. Proceeds from this A round will also allow the extension of Climpact’s offering to the financial sector, with indices targeted for asset managers and financial analysts.

Source : Climpact

More information on : www.climpact.com