Designer and manufacturer of non-destructive testing equipment for the industrial and scientific sectors, T-Waves Technologies has announced that it has raised Series A funding from Aster, Supernova Invest and Badge (a network of Business Angels). This round of financing will enable the Montpellier-based start-up to expand and prepare its international roll-out. As part of this dynamic, T-Waves Technologies is changing its name to Terakalis, bringing a more applicative vision to its solutions.
From the idea of a CNRS laboratory to technological leadership
Founded in 2013, the company offers manufacturers new solutions for advanced, on-line control of materials and their processes, as an alternative to X-rays in particular. The start-up has grown by relying on an innovation: a measurement sensor in the TeraHertz electromagnetic wave domain. This technology is the result of 30 years' research at the Charles Coulomb laboratory in Montpellier, under the auspices of the CNRS. It still holds a world record for measurement sensitivity.
On this basis, Terakalis has developed industrial versions of TeraHertz sensors, as well as all the components needed to build imaging, thickness measurement and spectrometry systems. Over the past four years, the company has developed equipment tailored to industrial constraints, in response to the emergence of new materials and new regulations requiring speed, penetration capacity and high detection sensitivity. Initial equipment sales have been made in the automotive and composite materials manufacturing sectors.
Fundraising and a new identity
This round of financing, carried out with Aster, Supernova Invest and Badge, will enable Terakalis to strengthen its position in the market for materials control on production lines, and to prepare for the internationalization of its activities. In 2019, Terakalis aims to expand its customer portfolio (major industrial accounts) and pursue its R&D efforts to develop its solutions for new materials and application sectors. This financing round follows an initial seed round carried out in 2017 with SATT AxLR.
To mark this new stage and support the company's development strategy, the management team has decided to change the company's name and visual identity: T-Waves Technologies becomes Terakalis.
The aim of this change is to better reflect the company's vision and values. Terakalis is a short name, intelligible in all languages, constructed from the Latin "qualis" meaning quality and the root "Tera" evoking TeraHertz waves. Terakalis thus suggests both the technological dimension and a strong value brought to customers for their materials or manufacturing processes.
"As part of our expertise in non-destructive testing, we had been following Terahertz technology for several years and were able to appreciate from T-Waves Technologies, for the first time worldwide, a credible imaging offering for continuous defect control on production lines. This name change comes at a time when the company will be making its first industrial deployments in 2019 in a sector as demanding as the automotive industry."says François Breniaux, Investment Director at Supernova Invest.
For Fabio Lancellotti, Partner at Aster, "Thierry Antonini, founding CEO, and his team have succeeded in transforming an idea born of research into an innovative and applicable solution, all the while creating real value in a rapidly changing industrial world. Terakalis' cutting-edge technology, based on TeraHertz waves, has considerable potential as a safer and more economical alternative to X-rays. We are proud to support this young company and to contribute, through our experience in Industry 4.0 and our international footprint, to its development in France and abroad."
Learn more: www.terakalis.com