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Start-up Aectual shakes up the construction world

Capital injection for creators of 3D printed canal house

Tuesday, 6th of February, Amsterdam. For the scaling up of their software and XL 3D printers, Amsterdam based company Aectual will receive a capital injection from sustainable investors AKEF, the DOEN Participations and an undisclosed American investor. With its scalable tailor-made products, the company is entering the construction market, one of the largest markets in the world with a potential of twelve trillion US Dollars on an annual basis.

Aectual controls the entire chain - from design to production, and offers global architects and developers unprecedented design freedom. Thanks to the 'tailor-made' production process and the use of recyclable material, the waste and CO2 emissions are significantly reduced. Half of the worldwide CO2 emissions derive from construction; 20% of the building material ends up in the container. Because Aectual 3D prints building products, waste will be a thing of the past. Only 30-70% of the material will be needed.

 

Capital injection for zero-waste

Ramon Brandt, investment manager AKEF: "The construction sector needs to be made more sustainable. Aectual has a strong mission focusing on sustainability and circulation, and is a global leader in the field of digital production with XL 3D printing technology. We believe they can make an important contribution to CO2 reduction. With their digital production process and 3D printing technology, they deliver tailor-made solutions, in addition to the strong reduction in material use and zero-waste, the bio-plastics print materials are also 100% reusable. "

CEO Hans Vermeulen: "XL 3D Printing is on the rise worldwide and Aectual is responding to that. We supply digital building product lines, such as floors, façades and staircases. We offer these tailor-made and worldwide, for hotel lobbies and airports, canal houses to skyscrapers. We combine the high margins of customization with the cost prices of industrial production, and that on a global level. This requires a long-term focus of our investors, and we are proud that we have received their trust. "

Investing in digitization of construction

Digitization and automation can be a solution to the ongoing stagnation of labor productivity in the construction industry. With its 3D printing park with four huge XL 3D printers, Aectual is developing a model that will be rolled out internationally and will start a worldwide network.

The tailor-made products save labor hours in the manufacturing process and in the installation because they always fit, which is also how waste and emissions are reduced. Recently Aectual launched a hybrid 3D-printed floor and soon a digital production chain for custom-printed façade elements will be launched.

For Aectual, the investment of 1.8 million is a nice prelude for scaling up so that it can further expand its software tools and robot park. Earlier the company already received half a million subsidy from Kansen voor West with the province of Noord Holland. The company creates new industry standards for 3D-printed building products with large partners such as Multinational Henkel, with which Aectual co-developed a novel bio-based printing material, the Amsterdam department of international engineering and consultancy company Arup, and construction company de Meeuw. Aectual already supplies printed products in Europe and Asia.

DOEN Participations also stepped in; impact investment manager Wouter van Westenbrugge: "Aectual is one of our Dutch front runners in the field of ​​innovation and sustainability of the construction chain. The founders of Aectual started with the radical idea of ​​printing a 3D Canal House to which DOEN also made a contribution. Now Aectual has the potential to completely turn the old-fashioned construction business upside down."

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About Aectual

Aectual digitally produces unique customizable building products using 3D printing robots and software tools. The company focuses on designers, project developers, building owners and residents, architects and the manufacturing industry in general. The team has a background in architecture and productdesign, combined with software and material development, robotics and engineering. All production is done in a ‘printer park’ which is a production facility with four enormous 3D-printers in Amsterdam.

Besides the 3D printed floors that are currently being delivered to multiple international customers, Aectuel is developing digital production chains for printed façade elements, printed molds for concrete elements and printed molds for concrete products. Earlier the company made a printed facade commissioned by the NL EU presidency of 2016. The digital engineering of the products is being developed together with international engineering and advisory firm Arup. The 3D printing-materials are developed with multinational Henkel. The company has partnerships with big international companies and develops specific product-market combinations. For example: Aectual develops a digitally adjustable recyclable façade for mobile builder De Meeuw.

About DOEN Participations

DOEN participations has been investing in innovative sustainable and social start-ups for over 20 years. DOEN Participations invests in entrepreneurs who dare to take risks to bring their often groundbreaking ideas to life and to inspire others. We as no other know that starting and building up a company takes a lot of time, courage and perseverance. Especially in this constant rapidly changing society, and that you can count on a lot of hiccups along the way. We support these start-ups. On one hand with money, and we step in in a very early phase and are able to switch quickly. Besides this we help making the start-ups bigger, more visible and stronger.

DOEN participants is completely owned en managed by stichting DOEN. Stichting DOEN is established by the Dutch Charity Lotteries. For more information visit the website: www.doen.nl

About Akef

The Climate & Energyfund of Amsterdam (AKEF) was established in July of 2013. It’s main goal is making a contribution to the sustainability ambitions of the municipality of Amsterdam. It’s a revolving fund of 45 million euro’s. The AKEF fund invests risky capital in companies and projects that demonstrably add to energy saving, sustainable energy and energy efficiency. The management of the fund is being led by e3 partners. For more information visit the website: www.akef.nl


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