Alusid Limited (“Alusid” or the “Company”) has announced it has successfully raised £250,000 via a convertible loan, including a £125,000 investment from the UK government’s Future Fund, established to support innovative businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The investment from the Future Fund, which was established to support the UK’s innovative businesses currently affected by COVID-19, has been matched by £100,000 from the Group and £25,000 from a private investor. Frontier IP holds a 35.6 per cent equity stake in the Company.
The convertible loan will be used to support the scale up of Alusid’s patented technology to create beautiful, premium-quality tiles and other surfaces out of recycled ceramic, glass and other industrial waste.
Alusid has been hand making tiles using a batch process at its facility in Preston, where current capacity is 4,000m2 a year. However, earlier this year, the company successfully completed a pilot run on industry standard mass production equipment. Once this is running commercially, the Company will be able to make 1,000m2 tiles a day, a move opening up new markets.
Customers include COS, part of H&M, and a bespoke tile range, Sequel Vibe, is also distributed by Parkside Architectural Tiles, the commercial arm of Topps Tiles. Alusid has also supplied Pret-a-Manger, Harrods, Selfridges, Nando’s and Amazon UK, all of which have been secured by distributor Panaz.
The Company has also won numerous industry awards. Sequel Vibe was highly commended in the Best Product Design category at 2019’s Blueprint Awards and named Wall Tile of the Year at 2020’s Tile Association awards.
This investment, made possible by the Future Fund, will enable Alusid to launch the world’s first retail tile made from 95 per cent recycled material in the New Year. Although we expect disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic to continue, this investment ensures we are in a strong position to deliver on our ambitious plans.
Alusid co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Dr Alasdair Bremner
This investment from the Future Fund will be invaluable in supporting Alusid’s move into mass production. The scale up opens up new markets for the Company and I am confident that the combination of green technology and high-quality products will prove very attractive to potential industry partners.
Frontier IP Group Chief Executive Officer Neil Crabb
