Intelligent paints : OliKrom triples its industrial surface in Pessac
OliKrom, known for its luminescent road paints, will expand in Pessac. The company has completed the acquisition of the former Courtepaille site adjacent to its premises. It is preparing the construction of a new building, which will triple its industrial surface. A 6 million euro investment, which will also be used for the pre-industrialization of new intelligent paints.
Inaugurated in 2018 in Pessac, the first bicycle path with lines drawn by OliKrom's photoluminescent paint has had a following: 120 local authorities in France are now testing or exploiting the illuminating virtues of this christened LuminoKrom, which is capable of storing sunlight during the day and then lighting up at night for ten hours so as to guide users, even without urban lighting. This value proposition is particularly relevant in a context of increased energy sobriety. OliKrom does not disclose its turnover, but the company claims an annual growth of more than 100% of its sales, 90% of which are white label, and has international outlets, with first sales in Belgium, Canada, Japan and Africa.
"After demonstrating our ability to structure a team around a common project, inaugurating our first industrial site in 2018, launching our first breakthrough product LuminoKrom in 2019, accelerating its commercialization in 2020, and doubling our workforce between 2021 and 2022, We are now reaching a new milestone that proves the reliability of our industrial business model and our ability to replicate it to transform ideas into products," says Jean-François Létard, president and founder of OliKrom, who led the project at the CNRS for 15 years before it was spun off as a company in 2014.
Olikrom, which has raised 10 million euros in three rounds since its creation, has just announced the acquisition of a 4,500 m² plot of land, immediately adjacent to its headquarters in Pessac, near the Cité de la Photonique. Previously occupied by a Courtepaille restaurant, it will allow OliKrom to triple its industrial surface, for a total investment estimated at 6 million euros. To complete the operation, OliKrom is financially supported by Bpifrance and the New Aquitaine region. It also has the support of two banking partners, CIC Sud-Ouest and Crédit Agricole d'Aquitaine, as well as the support of the city of Pessac and Bordeaux Métropole, within the framework of the Bordeaux Inno Campus metropolitan project.
The new building, which is scheduled to open in 2024, will enable OliKrom to achieve "a production capacity of several tons per day for different types of products". In addition to its luminescent paint, OliKrom says it wants to take advantage of these new resources to launch the pre-industrialization of new intelligent paints, intended in particular for the fields of health, luxury goods, industrial security and anti-counterfeiting. What do these different applications have in common? The ability to adapt the optical response of a material or surface to detect a change in temperature, a variation in pressure, of light or the presence of a gas.
