Canada: INCA Renewable Technologies secures 40 million funding for hemp composites

A INCA Renewable Technologies, manufacturer of natural fiber composites, announced in international competition JEC Composites Show Start-up Booster Competition which secured a funding commitment of USD 40 million. The funding will allow the company to market its line of advanced hemp-based biocomposites to companies such as Toyota North America. INCA had already received 10 million to build its facility in Vegreville, Alberta, Canada.

INCA secured a funding commitment of USD 40 million through a funding round with a private family investment fund, Family Office New York. INCA President and CEO David Saltman said it was “an important milestone for our company”. Saltman confirmed that this round of funding will allow the company to market its line of advanced hemp-based biocomposites to companies such as Toyota North America, Winnebago Industries and Gurit. The company will also move forward with construction of a hemp fiber processing facility in western Canada. Completing the project will make INCA the first vertically integrated natural fiber composites company in the world.”

According to the press release, the company has applied decades of experience in fiber processing and innovation in the manufacture of biocomposites to produce lighter prepregs for the automotive industry, large panels to replace pressed wood in trailer sidewalls, cores for wind turbine blades and boats and composite pellets to replace glass-reinforced plastics.

The product range will be made from hemp that has been legally grown on the Canadian prairies since 1998, primarily for plant proteins. INCA will acquire the residual biomass from large producers, refine it into long fibers, short fibers and crush it, thus manufacturing its entire product line.

The CEO of the New York Family Office said, “As the shift to new, lighter and stronger composite materials that reduce the carbon footprint is accelerating, our company sees the value in this innovative technology, which is not just a good business, but also good for the planet.” The family investment fund hired the services of Woodington Lane Ventures to evaluate the investment to be made in INCA. Woodington CEO Howard Morton commented, “INCA serves a proven and growing market – balancing attractive automotive contracts with differentiated technology. I believe that INCA's vertically integrated business model helps reduce the risk of an already established industry. This 'farm to mill' business model offers tier one manufacturers a secure and alternative supply chain capable of competing with incumbent oil and timber operators”.

The CEO of INCA added that the company's ability to "transform a low-cost raw material into a set of high-value patented products will allow our customers to produce lighter, stronger, lower-cost and much more environmentally sustainable products." ”. Saltman says that for the company, "it's a winning value proposition."

INCA Renewtech is a company active in innovation, manufacturing, fiber processing, genomics and biocomposite development, having developed patented high performance materials for various commercial partners such as Toyota North America, Genesis Products, Winnebago Industries and Gurit. The company claims that its products sequester carbon, reduce deforestation and plastic pollution as well as GHG emissions.