Severstal continues focus on automation with second investment in advanced composite solutions developer, Airborne

Severstal announces that it has led a second tranche of investment into Dutch company Airborne, a global leader in developing digital automation platforms for the production of composite parts, and products with integrated composites. The total investment in Airborne has already amounted to several tens of millions of dollars.

In spite of the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to many venture projects on the global market being placed on hold, Severstal led the new investment in Airborne with support of existing shareholders including HPE Growth.

In addition, Severstal and Airborne have entered into an exclusive technology partnership agreement in Russia. Under the terms of the agreement, Severstal will be Airborne’s first-choice partner within Russia for the implementation of all composite projects, including the automated production of composite parts.

Andrey Laptev, Director of Business Development and Corporate Venture Projects at Severstal, commented:

"COVID-19 has intensified the need for, and general trend towards, automation across most industries. Where before we were pursuing digitalization with the aim of increasing our internal efficiency levels, we are now driven by a necessity to guarantee the epidemiological safety of our people, and safeguard the continuity of our production processes. Composites manufacturing is difficult to automate, but Airborne’s solutions have the potential to disrupt the market significantly. For instance, Airborne technology simplifies mass production and launch of spaceships: sandwich panels with any core and any face sheet material can be manufactured on one automated manufacturing line. Despite the current cirumstances, it is vitally important to support entrepreneurs engaged in breakthrough technologies. Therefore, Severstal Ventures decided to lead on this latest investment tranche to Airborne. In addition, we aim to bring promising companies to the Russian market and help them to deploy their technologies here. I believe that the agreement we have signed will launch Airborne projects in Russia for Severstal and our clients”.