This investment carries considerable risks and may lead to a loss of the entire assets invested. Projected returns cannot be guaranteed and may be lower than expected.
All electrical devices have components built into them that generate heat while operating. In order to protect them from overheating and external influences, these components have to be wrapped with a special material. This material is called cast resin. copaltec produces and sells cast resins that are especially efficient for heat conduction and increase the performance and range of devices, like electric motors. With the most efficient cast resins on the market, copaltec was able to generate annual revenue of €240,000 in 2016 and has major DAX-30 customers, such as Siemens AG, in its portfolio. The copaltec team has made it their goal to become a "Hidden Champion" within the cast resin market over the next few years. The business angel of the year for 2016, Dr. Tobias Engelhardt, has invested in copaltec.
It is no longer possible to imagine modern everyday life without electrical devices. From the LED lighting in the garden to the cordless drill to the parking sensors on the car - all of these devices are equipped with sensitive electronics. In order to protect these sensitive components against external influences and overheating, copaltec develops and produces special plastics for high-performance electronics.
These so-called cast resins are based on two liquid components. We use a secret formulation to produce these in our manufacturing plants. By means of a chemical process, the cast resin then becomes a plastic material with special properties for customer to use on-site. Our industrial customers use these for the processing and permanent protection of highly sensitive electronic components. Objective measurements show that copaltec products are better and more efficient at transferring heat to the outside than market solutions. By means of industrial tests, we have confirmed the theoretical values for the thermal conductivity of our material.
Manual grouting in the technical center of copaltec
Due to increasing digitalisation, the demands on electronic components are also increasing and thus also on the cast resins used. When electrical devices are operated ever more heat occurs. So, in order that the devices can continue to work at the highest level of performance, the heat must be transferred to the outside, as this would otherwise hamper the performance.
In the example of an electric motor, pouring the copper windings with our heat conductive cast resin leads to an operating temperature reduction of over 30°C and thus a power increase of over 20%.
We were convinced of the huge potential even before the development of the first heat conductive product. Within the framework of the EXIST founder bursary (issued by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy), we laid the foundations for copatec's current innovation lead and with our cast resins, we have a development advantage of more than 3 years compared to the competition.
Copaltec founder and qualified chemical engineer, Andreas Hartwig, worked on the research and development of the product formulation for over 5 years. Together with him, Stefanie Lauer, also a copaltec founder and qualified media industry expert has built up the company from the bottom.
For 2017, the company is already set to grow and was able to more than double its revenue during the first quarter of 2017 when compared to the same time period from last year. Together, the perfect complementary founder couple, generated an annual turnover in 2106 of €240,000 and they are now in a position of being able to produce up to 10 tonnes per week in their own manufacturing halls.
Our products are used in a variety of industries, such as electric mobility, the lighting industry and battery technology. We currently supply over 50 international business customers. This also includes DAX 30 companies such as Siemens AG. Also, since 2014 the Business Angel of the Year (2016), Dr. Tobias Engelhard as been copaltec GmbH investor by means of his associated company.
In addition to the thermal conductive innovation, copatec offers further electrical cast resins for the most diverse industrial applications.
The production process can be imagined as a "speciality confectionery". The individual elements of the formulation, such as liquid and solid components, are produced to a specific procedure by means of our manufacturing facilities.
Production of the cast resin in the manufacturing facilities
We divide our product portfolio into four product lines. We now offer a total of over 40 different products.
The PURe Durchsicht product line is used in the lighting industry. It is characterised by transparent and UV-stable products. The products are perfect for embedding and to protect LED profiles.
Our electrically non-conductive cast resins are combined in the PURe Isolation line. The systems are characterised by very good electrical insulating properties and can also be used in arctic conditions.
The PURer Flammschutz product line includes our flame retardant systems. In their hardened condition, these exhibit excellent self-extinguishing properties and thus prevent fires caused by short-circuits and surges. These products are therefore ideal for use in the automotive sector, for example in parking sensors.
Our PURe Wärmeleitung line includes our revolutionary heat dissipation products. The cast resins are put to use in sectors such as electric mobility, electrics and electronics and battery technology. Thanks to their excellent cooling and processing properties, the temperature in the components is drastically reduced and the performance can thus be increased.
All product lines are free of solvents and have a very high proportion of renewable raw materials such as, for example, castor oil.
The copaltec business model is based very traditionally on the sale of our manufactured cast resins to our industrial customers. We procure the raw materials in accordance with our innovative formulations and produce the ordered product to order.
We do not therefore have a warehouse from which standard products can be retrieved; production only ever follows the receipt of an order from a customer. Using our manufacturing plants, we are currently able to achieve a production volume of 10 tonnes per week. On average, our customers order between 50 kg and 10,000 kg per order.
Following the clearly defined quality review and approval process, the delivery leaves our finished goods warehouse by freight forwarder or package service.
Finished goods warehouse of copaltec
Depending on the customer, we have a number of different agreements concerning invoicing and payment terms: from advance payment to 30 days net. In general, our customers are very willing and punctual payers and, on average, we receive 95% of our outstanding receivables on time.
Currently, we achieve our revenue through dealer distribution (Europe-wide), our distributor (China) and via international direct sales, which are currently managed by the two founders and managing directors.
Copaltec offers unique heat conductive cast resins, whose efficiency has been unrivalled in the industry since the founding of the company in 2012. The properties of a material in terms of "dissipating heat" are measured in W/m*K (watts per metre times Kelvin). We offer polyurethane-based cast resins which achieve values of up to 3.5 W/m*K. Since we never seek to rest on our laurels, we are currently working on a system with 4.0 W/m*K.
But why are the high thermal conductivity values so relevant? Due to the increased performance in the electronic components, there is increasing development of heat within the component which hampers the performance. If, however, the heat is directly dissipated from the heat source and the operating temperature is thus reduced, greater performance can be retrieved. The advantage of a cast resin is that the heat source can be directly enclosed. Instead of air, which is known to be an insulator, the casting resin transfers the heat directly from the component. This might be imagined as a clear motorway, with a good flow of traffic instead of a long traffic jam.
The high thermal conductivity is not the only thing that makes our systems untouchable. The very good flow properties allow it to penetrate right into the small slots and windings in the complex components. And this is precisely where our know-how comes in: the greater the thermal conductivity of the products, the greater the amount of raw materials is in powder form. A well-balanced mixture of the individual powder types and our "special ingredient" allows us to achieve the high thermal conductivity values with good flow characteristics. This opens up completely new fields of application for us, such as the embedding of the windings in an electric motor, where a highly compacted resin would not be able to penetrate.
Component parts: high thermal conductivity value with good flow characteristics
Our innovation is the formulation. The uniqueness of our thermally conductive products is certainly worthy of a patent and this is something which we have already had checked. Since however our know-how lies in the formulation, a patent application would disclose more than it would protect. We are currently working on a patent registration combining a specific application with our cooling cast resin.
Since 2013, copaltec’s turnover has developed rapidly and this applies equally to the number of customers. By means of direct sales, we currently supply over 50 business customers from the industry worldwide; not counting the customers of our specialist dealers and distributors.
With our distributor in China, we have perfect access to the numerous manufacturers of consumer electronics on the Asian market. Our Chinese partner has over 15 years of experience in the distribution of cast resins. He particularly specialises in automotive applications.
Our customers come from the following industries: electrics and electronics, lighting, electric mobility, control technology and instruments, storage solutions and battery technology.
It all started with the inclusion of copaltec products in the range of leading electronics wholesalers, such as Bürklin GmbH & Co. KG and reichelt elektronik GmbH & Co. KG, where even today regular product orders are placed.
As a result of visiting a great many international trade fairs, such as productronica & electronica in Munich (2013, 2014), light & building in Frankfurt (2016), CWIEME in Berlin (2015) and the Bond Expo in Stuttgart (2013- 2016), we have the built up a reputation for the copaltec brand and have concluded important partnerships.
We have various different order agreements with our customers. For many of our repeat customers, we work with framework contracts which are renewed on an annual basis. We supply a large amount according to project requirements with appropriate lead times depending on the volume. Dealers and distributors have separate price lists and delivery time agreements.
Our target group consists solely of business customers. There is no limitation in terms of company size; we supply both small and medium-sized businesses as well as international DAX-30 companies, such as SIEMENS AG.
Cast resins are widely used in the industry. The following industries therefore form our target groups:
The target market for polyurethane-based plastics has displayed enormous increases in growth for some years.
The crowd investing funds will primarily be used to expand our human resources in the area of sales and project management. This includes the intensive support of the demanding industrial customers right from pre-production to process introduction and ultimately to series production.
This is also connected to the expansion of our storage and production areas and the manufacturing facilities. Furthermore, we are planning further marketing measures including participation in trade fairs and an updated website.
Investment Level I: from €100,000
We want to increase our sales activities in order to gain more customers and to better support our current customers. The sales representative will mainly be engaged in active customer acquisition in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Investment Level II: from €600,000
In addition to the measures from Level I, we also plan to make the following investments. Our projects in the area of electric mobility and battery technology require in-depth technical expertise. The further the projects go, the greater the support costs become. We will therefore develop a project team with an engineering background to support us in terms of offering intensive support. We also intend to participate in world-leading trade fairs with a view to increasing recognition of our innovation.
Investment Level II: from €800,000
In addition to the measures from Level I and Level II, we plan to further expand our production in order to meet the requirements and volume requests in the area of electric mobility. Specifically, this concerns further production facilities, furnaces, storage systems and an extension of the production areas.
Copaltec was initially financed by the EXIST founder scholarship and with development loans. The summer of 2014 saw the Engelhardt Kaupp Kiefer Association Company ("EKKUB") led by Dr. Tobias Engelhardt, Business Angel of the year 2016, invest in the company. EKKUB currently has a 49% stake. MBG Baden-Württemberg came on board as a silent partner in Spring 2016. A business angel from the Stuttgart area is also interested in becoming involved parallel to the crowd funding campaign.
EXIST Founders’ Bursary
Funding Period: 2012 2013
The EXIST funding program of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi) supports the preparation of student, graduate, scientist and researcher led innovative, technology-oriented and knowledge-based start-up projects. The funds were set at around EUR 70k, whereby we invested a major part of this in our laboratory equipment and measuring devices.
Baden-Württemberg Young Innovators
Funding Period: 2013-2014
The Young Innovators support program from the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and Art helps scientific staff from universities and non-university research centres to go into business for themselves with innovative products or procedures. Funding in the area of personnel amounted to approximately €35k.
Founders and Managing Directors of copaltec: Stefanie Lauer and Andreas Hartwig
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