Toronto-based GreenCore Composites, a supplier of natural fibre composite materials, has announced that it has completed a successful financing round, securing $850,000 in private equity. First Leaside Visions Limited Partnership, which is located in Uxbridge, Ont., was the major participant.
The company has proprietary and patent-pending technologies to manufacture natural fibre reinforced composites for injection molding, thermoforming and extrusion of structural products. GreenCore is currently working to commercialize its Green Inside pellets, made with cellulosic fibres and thermoplastics for injection molding and extrusion, based on the natural fibre composite technology pioneered by Dr. Mohini Sain at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Forestry and Chemical Engineering.
"Natural fibre composites may just be the hottest spot in the new materials right now," said Dr. Sain. "Manufacturers worldwide are looking to reduce their dependency on petrochemicals and materials such as glass fibres and synthetic plastics. They are also looking for ways to respond to consumer demands for green products without sacrificing strength and integrity of the original part. We believe GreenCore Composite materials hold the solution to these issues."
The company has been aggressively working towards commercializing, as highlighted in the Ideas and Innovations column of the April 2008 issue of Canadian Plastics. The company was formed in 2005, and parts of the research and development have been funded and supported by the Ontario Centres of Excellence and the Auto21 Network of Centres of Excellence.
In March, with the support of the Ontario government, the company completed the installation of a pilot line at Process Research Ortech in Mississauga. Since then, the company has made significant progress in productivity improvements to ensure competitive commercial scale in a global market.
"GreenCore is thankful to the province for its financial support and the early stage funding from the Ontario Centres of Excellence," said GreenCore president and CEO Geoff Clark. "Recently announced funding from the Ontario BioAuto Council and the new private equity will help to ensure that our objectives of further process development, new fibre composites and customer driven product design and engineering are achieved."