Porsche, Volvo, BMW Invest In Environmentally Friendly Composite Maker Bcomp

Swiss startup, Bcomp, announced today that it has completed an investment round, receiving CHF 32.4 million ($34.9 million USD at current exchange rates) from leading venture capital funds and automotive companies, such as BMW, Porsche, and Volvo.

The company produces sustainable lightweighting materials out of natural fibers. The composite is 50 percent lighter than a standard plastic part while using 70 percent less plastic and creating 62 percent fewer CO2 emissions. When the materials are no longer needed, they can easily be recycled or simply burned for power in incineration plants.

Naturally, then, the material is of interest to motorsport teams. BMW has been using Bcomp’s ampliTex and powerRibs technologies in its race cars since 2019. The material was used in its Formula E race car as well as in the recently announced M4 GT customer race car.

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Porsche, meanwhile, worked with Bcomp to create the first competition motorsport door in 2019. It then used the company’s products in the Cayman 718 GT4 CS MR and the Mission R concept car.

But it’s not all race cars. BMW intends to use Bcomp materials in its road vehicles in the future, while Volvo is exploring the use of the material in production vehicles, as well. It can be found in the company’s Recharge concept from 2021 and Polestar intends to use the material for interior panels in the Polestar 5, set to launch in 2024.

“The strong interest from our targeted large-scale mobility markets is clear. Now is the time to scale our production and deploy our global strategy,” said Christian Fischer, Bcomp CEO, in a statement. “We are very excited to open this new chapter with the great support of our new partners, developing Bcomp as the global leader of sustainable lightweight material solutions, and making our contribution to the circular economy.”