FLEEP Technologies, a Milan-based startup hailing from the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), just one year after its establishment, has completed a seed round of €900K, with the investment of “Eureka! Fund I – Technology Transfer” managed by EUREKA! Venture SGR.
The new capital will further contribute to the company’s development plans and will be used to bring the technology of ‘printed electronics’ to market. This will mean making it possible to print integrated circuits, the basic components of computing and automatic control, as well as other essential elements for the digitalisation of information.
The startup’s stellar team, 80% of whom hold PhDs, was founded in mid 2019 by the IIT research group Printed and Molecular Electronics. Led by Mario Caironi, the team includes young researchers Giorgio Dell’Erba and Paolo Colpani, and is located within the Center for Nano Science and Technology (CNST) of IIT in Milan.
The technology developed by FLEEP Technologies allows the creation of electronics based not on silicon but on biocompatible and recyclable carbon-based polymers. In this way it is possible to have flexible electronic circuits adaptable to any surface, produced through traditional printing techniques, such as rotogravure, screen printing or inkjet printing, on different materials such as plastic, paper, fabrics, etc.
Thanks to the new funding from Pariter Partners, the members of Italian Angels for Growth (IAG) and the Club degli Investitori, together with the Cogliati Family, the startup will develop intelligent, flexible and sustainable electronic systems for the packaging and biomedical industry that can reach the market within 3 years.
“The entry of Eureka! will allow us to face the challenges related to the development of printed electronics in a more solid way, with the awareness of having acquired not only capital but also a strategic investor who can certainly help us with his vast knowledge and network of contacts in the deep-tech world,” said Giorgio Dell’Erba, co-founder and CEO of FLEEP Technologies.
Salvatore Majorana, Partner of EUREKA! Venture SGR commented: “With FLEEP we are exploring the potential of printed, flexible and recyclable electronics. A frontier that opens up new applications of intelligent packaging, wearable electronics that can be integrated into everyday objects. Once again, materials are the gateway to great technological evolutions, and we at Eureka! are ready to accompany the best ideas of Italian scientific research”.
Matteo Bonfanti, Director of Technology Transfer at IIT also added: “We are pleased to see FLEEP’s pool of investors grow further with a fund like Eureka! born thanks to Itatech’s platform. The further strengthening of the investor pool for a startup operating in deep tech is the demonstration of the validity of the research carried out at IIT. ”
