CEFC supports Carbon Revolution's successful capital raising

The CEFC has congratulated Carbon Revolution on its successful capital raising, which will support the continued growth of the Geelong-based high tech manufacturer.

Carbon Revolution has raised almost $75 million in additional capital in the form of a convertible note as part of a pre-IPO funding round. The company said the capital raising received strong support from key Australian institutional investors.

The CEFC, which invested $10 million in equity in Carbon Revolution in 2016, has now extended its commitment to the company with a further $2 million investment. The CEFC commitment is via the Clean Energy Innovation Fund.

Carbon Revolution produces the world’s only mass produced one-piece carbon fibre car wheel. The unique carbon fibre wheels are typically 40 to 50 percent lighter than comparable aluminium wheels, reducing vehicle weight and therefore fuel consumption and carbon emissions.

The wheels are produced at Carbon Revolution’s state-of-the-art purpose-built factory located in the Advanced Manufacturing Precinct at the Deakin University campus in Geelong.

CEFC Innovation Fund Lead Ben Gust said: “This capital raising is a vote of confidence in Carbon Revolution and its business growth and long-term investment potential. We are delighted to be part of this emerging Australian success story and to see this company driving an exciting new high tech manufacturing industry.

“One of the most exciting features of the clean energy sector is its potential to create new jobs and new industries, using innovative technologies and new thinking to lower our carbon emissions right across our economy, from the cars we drive to the energy we generate.”

STATEMENT FROM CARBON REVOLUTION

Carbon Revolution’s capital raising has been completed successfully with almost $75m raised, mainly from major Australian financial investors. The raising was in the form of a convertible note as part of a pre-IPO funding round:

• Strong support from key Australian institutional investors including: Acorn, CEFC and SG Hiscock, who are all existing shareholders, whilst a number of significant new investors have now come onboard including Thorney and Quest.
• Deakin University has also continued to support the company’s development by participating in this raising

The business performance has been strong this year:

• Daily volumes are close to triple what they were at the beginning of the year due to rapidly increasing demand from our customers. This reflects a strong market response to the technology.
• The latest Ferrari, SF90 Stradale which was launched over the weekend, also features Carbon Revolution’s wheel technology. Meanwhile, Renault’s latest high performance vehicle, the Megane Trophy R has just smashed the world Nurburgring record for front wheel drive vehicles, taking seconds off Honda’s previous record.
• These recent developments point to the value of the technology and the strength of Carbon Revolution’s global leadership position. Additional programs are signed with other Global car makers but are yet to be announced. The SUV segment is likely to be the next to adopt the technology.

Our industrialisation program is well progressed with a significant amount of new equipment now installed and delivering an order of magnitude step change improvement in efficiency and throughput.

• The company scoured the world to find the best automation and industrialisation specialists to develop a state of the art, world class manufacturing facility. As part of this we have brought Australian automotive leaders and specialists back from leading global OEMs including Tesla and General Motors. This is a very exciting development and has dramatically increasing our capability over the past 6-8 months.

The business is now well capitalised and has the right structure in place to successfully expand to high volume and industrial scale.

• As of June, the team has grown to almost 300 staff, up by around 130 compared to a year ago. The majority of the new members of the team are involved in advanced manufacturing roles.
• Ultimately the plant in Geelong is targeted to produce more than half a million wheels per year. The rapid increase in demand that the company is experiencing may see this capacity being installed and filled sooner than previously expected.
• With world leading expertise in automation and industrialisation now inhouse, the company’s manufacturing facilities are set to be at the very cutting edge in terms of manufacturing technology and efficiency.

The opportunity that the company now has to exploit its global leadership with this unique and sought after technology is very significant.

The Victorian Government’s involvement in supporting the company through this capital raising was a critically important factor in enabling Carbon Revolution to achieve this very strong result whilst continuing with its rapid expansion program. 

James Douglas, the Chair of Carbon Revolution said: “We are delighted that the capital raising was so well supported by our existing shareholders and a number of new significant institutional investors.  The Victorian Government’s involvement in supporting the company through this capital raising was a critically important factor in enabling Carbon Revolution to achieve this very strong result whilst continuing with its aggressive expansion program.  The business is now well capitalised and has the right structure in place to successfully expand to high volume and industrial scale.”

Jake Dingle, Carbon Revolution MD/CEO said: “This is surely one of the most exciting businesses in Australia if not the world. We are the clear global leaders with a highly sought after technology, with a team that is capable of fully capitalising on this advantage and building a truly world class industrial manufacturing facility. Our volume and cost trajectory now shows just how huge this opportunity is.”

Alex Waislitz, Executive Chairman of Thorney Investment Group and the listed Thorney Technologies said "Carbon Revolution has the potential to be a major Australian high tech manufacturing success story and we're very pleased to be supporting it." 

Robert Routley, CEO of Acorn Capital said: “Acorn Capital first invested in Carbon Revolution in 2015 . We are proud to support a world class advanced materials platform that is transforming the way we think about Australian manufacturing, as well as contributing to local employment and economic growth.”