The GreenSky Accelerator Fund IV (“GreenSky”) is pleased to announce that it has made an investment in Direct-C Inc. This CDN$3.5M Series A investment round was co-led by GreenSky and Henkel Adhesive Technologies, a leading global provider of maintenance, repair and overhaul (“MRO”) solutions in more than 800 different industry segments.
“The combination of the Direct-C sensor technology and our broad MRO portfolio and expertise offers great potentials for innovative end-to-end solutions,” explains Paolo Bavaj, Head of Corporate Venturing at Henkel Adhesive Technologies. “Together we aim to develop digital business models that help innovating our traditional MRO business towards the increasing demands for novel and efficient industrial IoT applications. Thus, the investment perfectly fits to our business strategy to implement and enable predictive maintenance solutions across industries.”
Founded in 2014, Direct-C has developed a polymer nanocomposite sensor material that is adaptable to various polymer matrices and sensing parameters. The technology is specifically designed to react to liquid hydrocarbons and provides a unique leak detection solution for integrity monitoring of oil and gas infrastructure. The technology enables significantly enhanced response times to unexpected incidents and helps to limit cost-intensive unplanned production downtimes.
Adrian Banica, CEO of Direct-C added “We are very pleased to receive this investment from Henkel Tech Ventures as it comes at a crucial time when we plan to aggressively scale our manufacturing capabilities and customer acquisitions in the hydrocarbon production and transportation markets. More importantly however, we look forward to collaborating with Henkel’s MRO team on various initiatives and creating new and unique digital monitoring offerings for industrial equipment operators.” GreenSky Managing Partner Michael List said, “We originally invested in Direct-C through our third GreenSky fund, and are excited that a global player like Henkel, with such a deep understanding of the MRO marketplace, shares our excitement about the value Direct-C can bring. This round is a critical step in Direct-C’s evolution and is an excellent endorsement of the work that Adrian and the Direct-C team have been doing, especially in the face of some of the recent business challenges presented by the pandemic.”
ABOUT HENKEL
Henkel operates globally with a well-balanced and diversified portfolio. The company holds leading positions with its three business units in both industrial and consumer businesses thanks to strong brands, innovations and technologies. Henkel Adhesive Technologies is the global leader in the adhesives market – across all industry segments worldwide. In its Laundry & Home Care and Beauty Care businesses, Henkel holds leading positions in many markets and categories around the world. Founded in 1876, Henkel looks back on more than 140 years of success. In 2020, Henkel reported sales of more than 19 billion euros and adjusted operating profit of about 2.6 billion euros. Henkel employs about 53,000 people globally – a passionate and highly diverse team, united by a strong company culture, a common purpose to create sustainable value, and shared values. As a recognized leader in sustainability, Henkel holds top positions in many international indices and rankings. Henkel’s preferred shares are listed in the German stock index DAX. For more information, please visit www.henkel.com.
ABOUT HENKEL TECH VENTURES
Henkel Tech Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Henkel Adhesive Technologies, established in 2016. Headquartered in Düsseldorf, it functions as a connector between external innovators and Henkel. Through networking, consulting, partnerships and investments, the unit supports the growth of startups and at the same time enhances Henkel’s new business development efforts. For more information, please visit www.henkel-tech.ventures.
ABOUT DIRECT-C LIMITED
has developed a platform sensor technology that uses a proprietary, polymer-based nanocomposite “paint”. This “paint” can be applied to any surface of interest that requires large area measurements for temperature, stress/strain/cracking and chemical exposure (such as a building, bridge, engine, pipeline, etc.) or it can be built into small area sensors that provide location specific measurements. The first revenue generating commercial market application deploys a formulation specifically designed to detect liquid hydrocarbons and is currently used in the implementation of a variety of oil leak detection solutions that provide unparalleled performance for the integrity monitoring of oil and gas infrastructure. The solutions provide no false positives, instant alerts, and precise locations of a release – all which lead to enhanced response times to unexpected incidents. www.direct-c.ca
ABOUT GREENSKY CAPITAL INC.
GreenSky Capital Inc. is an award-winning Toronto-based firm that makes investments in early-stage Canadian technology companies through its affiliated venture capital funds, GreenSky Accelerator Fund I, II, III and IV. Our principals bring a combination of experience in technology, entrepreneurship, law and finance to high-growth potential companies and dedicated entrepreneurs. Learn more about GreenSky at greenskycapital.com.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Greg Stewart, Managing Partner, GreenSky Capital gstewart@greenskycapital.com
