VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland exited its Finland-based textile fibre spinout Spinnova yesterday to be replaced by new shareholders Maki.vc and Beata Domus.

VTT Ventures, the investment arm of VTT, had held the Stake on behalf of the institution.

Spinnova has also secured a total of €7.5m ($8.6m) in debt, with $5.1m of the sum supplied by EU-owned European Investment Bank and the remaining $3.4m supplied by government trade and research agency Business Finland and financial services firm OP Bank.

Spun out from VTT in 2014, Spinnova has devised an environmentally sustainable process for manufacturing textile fibres used to make materials including fabric and yarn.

The process applies mechanical refining and drying processes marketed as of no harm to the environment. Its cellulose pulp feedstock is sourced from woodland certified as sustainably developed by non-profit forest protection agency Forest Stewardship Council.

The capital will enable Spinnova to begin operations at its pilot factory in Finland later in 2018. Its business strategy is expected to centre around licensing out its technology to third parties.

Spinnova currently collaborates on product development with corporates including designer furniture and textile supplier Marimekko and claims to have “wide interest” from other textile firms looking to achieve sustainability targets.

The company’s majority shareholder is eucalyptus pulp manufacturer Fibria, which first invested $5.7m in exchange for an 18% stake in July 2017.

Spinnova had also obtained $2m in funding by March 2015 from backers including VTT Ventures, fibre products manufacturer Lenzing and investment firm Besodos as well as angel investors Markku Kaloniemi, Yrjö Neuvo and Timo Soininen.

Janne Poranen, CEO of Spinnova and former head of research at VTT for fibres and bio-based materials, co-founded the company alongside chief technology officer Juha Salmela, who led a VTT team researching rheology process flows for almost a decade.

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