Successful 2nd round of financing - Ubiblue becomes Magnoric
Ubiblue closes its 2nd financing round with a high seven-figure investment by Hackforth Holding GmbH & Co. KG and will operate as Magnoric as of November 2022
Strasbourg/Duppigheim/Herne, 09.11.2022
The French high-tech company Ubiblue has successfully completed its second round of financing. With a high seven-digit investment, Hackforth Holding from Herne, as an industry-related investor, is taking a majority stake in the market leader from Alsace. With the investor’s entry, Ubiblue, which is based in Strasbourg and Duppigheim, will operate as Magnoric from November 2022.
At the same time, Ubiblue/Magnoric confirmed product deliveries of the latest generation of magnetocaloric cooling units to major European customers for autumn 2022.
Ubiblue/Magnoric is a French-German company specialising in magneto-caloric refrigeration technology and waste heat recovery. It develops and produces both highly efficient, environmentally friendly refrigeration machines and devices for recovering electrical energy by using low-temperature waste heat.
Devices based on caloric materials exhibit reversible thermal changes due to changes in the magnetic, electric and/or mechanical field. The use of these materials in the devices developed by Ubiblue/Magnoric on the one hand replaces environmentally harmful fluids that are currently still used in conventional heating and cooling systems, while at the same time significantly increasing energy efficiency. Ubiblue/Magnoric developed the units on the basis of its own patents in the field of cooling and waste heat recovery technology. They are developed and manufactured at Ubiblue/Magnoric’s headquarters in Alsace. The different types of units convince with their system performance in terms of cooling power density, temperature range and especially energy efficiency.
The refrigeration units developed by Ubiblue/Magnoric – like the waste heat recovery units – operate completely without climate-damaging refrigerant gases and enable energy savings of up to 50 percent compared to conventional compressor-based technology.
Ubiblue/Magnoric is now the market leader with patent-protected innovations in this field. The team of researchers and engineers employed by the company since 2019 had already been working on the research, further development and industrialisation of magneto-caloric materials and device types for more than twelve years. The company’s objective is to enable the development of commercially viable systems with high performance through continuous innovation.
In its investment decision, the German investor Hackforth Holding emphasised, among other things, the enormous CO2 reduction potential of the Ubiblue/Magnoric solutions and the associated compliance with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Gregor van Ackeren, new CEO of Ubiblue/Magnoric, says: “Almost 20 percent of global electricity consumption is currently used for cooling, and the trend is rising. A climate-neutral future can only be achieved through breakthrough innovations and technologies. Our magnetocaloric-powered units are revolutionising the traditional refrigeration industry. Our customers also save money by improving their energy efficiency and reducing regular maintenance. What is exciting for us as a young company is that, in parallel, we can also demonstrate a sustainably high level of efficiency through our prototypes in the field of waste heat recovery this year. Especially in the case of waste heat in the low-temperature range, e.g. in industry, the direct conversion back into electrical energy by our devices will mean an extraordinary gain in actual energy efficiency and a reduction in costs for the companies in the future.
Sven Oelert, Managing Director of the investor Hackforth Holding adds: “We are delighted to be working with the highly professional team at Ubiblue/Magnoric. Together, we are convinced that we can help them to quickly penetrate a global market. Investing in innovative technologies plays a key role in creating a more sustainable future. Magnetocaloric-based refrigeration equipment developed and manufactured by Ubiblue/Magnoric enables greatly improved operating efficiency in refrigeration processes, radically reducing energy waste. And this across all industries. At the same time, this technology offers the complete elimination of the use of climate-damaging greenhouse gases. We are pleased to be able to contribute to a climate-neutral future in this way”.
Hackforth Holding GmbH & Co KG is the management company for the subsidiaries of the VULKAN Group, which is one of the technology and market leaders in the field of marine, industrial and energy technology as well as refrigeration and air conditioning technology. The owner-managed group of companies has its headquarters in Herne in the Ruhr area. Today, the company has five production sites, over 50 sales companies and around 1,400 employees at more than 18 locations worldwide.