News | 16 May 2014
ELeather, one of the fastest-growing private technology companies in Britain, has received investment from Environmental Technologies Fund.
Environmental Technologies Fund has invested £5m of growth capital investment into ELeather Ltd, the world’s only manufacturer of high-technology composition leather. The financing will underpin the company’s continuing rapid expansion into global transportation and commercial upholstery markets.
ELeather products are manufactured by hydro-entangling leather fibres and a high performance core material. The material looks and feels like traditional leather while being more durable and lighter weight.
ELeather also increases yield during the cut and sew process as it is supplied in rolls rather than irregular shaped traditional hides. ELeather has been used in the aviation industry for over eight years and is currently sold to more than 70 airlines.
ETF’s investment will help the company to expand its customer base in the bus, coach and rail sectors as well as developing further growth opportunities.
The global leather industry processes one billion leather hides every year but many thousands of tonnes of leather is trimmed off and discarded to landfill during the process.
“ELeather’s patented process uses these unwanted offcuts to produce a material that is almost indistinguishable to the passenger from traditional leather but has superior properties.” says Chris McBean, CEO of ELeather. “We’re delighted to have ETF as financial and strategic partners supporting our next stage of growth to strengthen our global position.
Patrick Sheehan, Partner of the Environmental Technologies Fund, adds: “We have been impressed by the team at ELeather, and by all the things they are doing to create a great company based on unique technology. They have already done a fantastic job to make ELeather the upholstery material of choice for the airline industry. ELeather is poised to become an industry standard in other market sectors and we believe that the company has huge global potential”.
Environmental Technologies Fund is a leading growth capital investment fund investing in some of the most exciting growth companies in Europe. Environmental Technologies Fund supports companies whose products and services deliver a significant environmental and economic benefit. The team is backed by leading institutional investors and has a great deal of experience gathered over decades of working in growth capital and with environmental companies.
Environmental Technologies Fund is supported by the European Union through the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme.
For further information see www.etf.eu.com.
