Aisti, a Finnish materials startup developing new acoustic tiles, raised €1.6m (c.£1.3m) in a seed funding round led by Maki.vc, with participation from Valve Ventures.
The startup uses wood pulp to produce acoustic tiles commonly used in commercial and residential ceilings. Currently these tiles are primarily made of glass and are not recyclable.
The process uses a minimal amount of energy to mix water with wood fibres and surfactant to create a foam that, after it dries out, can be cut into a tile.
The company claims that the tiles are fully carbon negative, which means that they remove more carbon dioxide than they emit.
Aisti intends to sell directly to architects and construction companies that design or build schools, hospitals and commercial buildings.
It has already signed a contract with a large Nordic architecture firm to supply thousands of square meters of tile, but it doesn’t yet have the production capacity to deliver that amount of product.
While this round of funding will offer 18 months of ‘runway’, the company will need to raise an additional €20 million over the next year to start construction on a large-scale production facility for its materials, said CEO Mikko Paananen.
Currently, it is continuing to sign take agreements with customers and the next round of funding will go towards building its production facility.
Image credit: Andrii Yalanskyi/Shutterstock
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