Antefil Composite Tech, a Swiss start-up offering innovative and more cost-efficient intermediate materials to produce lightweight structures for industrial applications, has closed a CHF 1.5M pre-seed financing round. The round was led by seasoned entrepreneur Werner Frei, who has also joined the company’s board of directors. Other participating investors were Unifil AG as well as Serpentine Ventures AG and the Kick Foundation, the latter two having previously closed convertible loan agreements with the company. The round aims to accelerate the industrial production of Antefil’s hybrid fibres.
Antefil Composite Tech, the Swiss start-up revolutionizing fast and efficient production of composite structures, is delighted to announce the successful closing of its CHF 1.5M pre-seed financing round. The round was led by Werner Frei, a highly experienced entrepreneur in the field of glass fibre materials and industrial production, who has also joined the company’s board of directors. The round was complemented by investments from Unifil AG and existing investors, as well as by the conversion of loan agreements previously closed with Serpentine Ventures AG (Rookie Fund I), and the Kick Foundation (Fonds Venture Kick).
The round aims to accelerate the industrial production of Antefil’s hybrid fibres, which are based on a patent-pending technology that allows individually coating glass fibres with a meltable, recyclable plastic. The coating process is implemented in line with the spinning operation. This technology offers a more cost-efficient and cleaner way to produce lightweight moving structures for industrial applications and leads to various advantages compared to traditional moulding techniques. These include time and energy savings due to shorter cycle times, as well as aerospace quality structures that can be recycled. Antefil’s innovative approach stands for efficient, circular production of composites – even at a large scale.
“We are delighted to have Werner Frei on board as an investor and board member,” says Antefil’s chairwoman, operational lead and co-founder Nicole Aegerter. “His experience and expertise in building and scaling companies in the field of glass fibre materials and industrial production will be invaluable to our company as we continue to innovate and develop new composite materials.”
Werner Frei, the new member of Antefil’s board of directors, says: “I’m thrilled to be joining Antefil’s board of directors and investing in this innovative young company. Antefil has developed an exciting technology with significant potential to revolutionize the production of composite structures. I look forward to working with the team to scale up production and bring these innovative materials to market.”
The company’s executive lead and co-founder, Christoph Schneeberger, adds: “We are very grateful for the support of our investors, who share our vision of a more sustainable and efficient future for the production of lightweight structures. With this financing round, we are well-positioned to accelerate our growth and bring our innovative technology to industrial production.”
About Werner Frei
An engineer by training, Werner Frei was mainly involved in the project development and execution of large civil defence facilities in his first years after graduation. In 1972 he became interested in filter technology and founded Unifil AG in 1978. The goal was the development and production of air filters for general air filtration and especially for clean rooms. Eventually, a filter testing laboratory with international recognition was built. In 1988 he took over Aeroglass Filtri in Ospedaletto, Italy. Aeroglass is one of the few manufacturers of glass fibres for air filtration fleeces.
About Unifil
Since 2008, Unifil AG has been led by Matthias Frei, the second generation of the family. As a leader in the national filter market, Unifil is committed to Switzerland as a production location. In its own plants in Niederlenz, Aargau, 150 employees develop, manufacture and distribute a full range of high-quality air filters for a wide range of applications.
About Venture Kick
Venture Kick kicks spin-off projects out of Swiss university labs by providing up to CHF 150,000 in seed-money, a global network to investors and hands-on coaching. Venture Kick is organized as a fully private and philanthropic foundation with the goal of fostering job creation, and social and economic prosperity in Switzerland. Since 2007, Venture Kick has invested CHF 44.85 million in 917 projects, which today represent 718 companies and more than 11,362 jobs. Startups supported by Venture Kick have raised more than CHF 6.7 billion in investments to date.
In 2023, Venture Kick will pay out CHF 6.3 million to idea-stage startup projects to bring Swiss science to global markets.
About Serpentine Ventures
Serpentine Ventures AG is a fully owned subsidiary of Swiss Ventures Group AG and FINMA licensed asset manager offering exclusive access to investments across stages of the venture capital asset class.
Serpentine Rookie Fund I invests as a Super Angel fund in the most attractive pre-seed technology ventures in Switzerland and beyond through a transparent and systematic approach.
About Antefil
Antefil Composite Tech offers a more cost-efficient and cleaner way to produce lightweight moving structures for industrial applications. Its patent-pending technology allows the production of glass fibres that are individually coated with a meltable, recyclable plastic. With these fibres, lightweight structures can be manufactured using a minimal amount of pressure and heat.
This innovative approach leads to various advantages compared to traditional moulding techniques. These include time and energy savings because of shorter cycle times, as well as aerospace quality structures that can be recycled. Therefore, the Antefil technology stands for an efficient, circular production of composites – even at a large scale.
Founded in 2022, the Swiss startup has already won various awards, such as the Venture Kick initiative and the ETH Zurich Spark Award. For more information about Antefil and its unique technology, visit their website: antefil.com.
Press Contact
Christoph Schneeberger
Co-founder & executive lead
cschneeberger@antefil.com
Access our press kit at antefil.com/press-kit
