dimpora raises over CHF 2.1 million to advance the next generation of sustainable functional membranes
26.05.2021
dimpora AG closed a Seed financing round with High-Tech Gründerfonds, Safer Made, and Closed Loop Partners as lead investors, joined by several other local and international investors, some with ties to the textile industry. The waterproof and breathable membranes made with dimpora’s patented technology are used in outdoor and active apparel and footwear to keep moisture out and allow perspiration to evaporate and keep the body comfortable. This financing allows dimpora to grow the team, scale the production and deliver initial collections with their brand partners worldwide. dimpora won Venture Kick in 2019.
 The dimpora team (from left to right): Lucile Menand (R&D engineer), Anna Beltzung (CTO), and Mario Stucki (CEO)
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dimpora closed its Seed financing round of over CHF 2.1 million with an international group of investors led by High-Tech Gründerfonds, Safer Made, and Closed Loop Partners. The international consortium of investors is focused on textiles, technology, and sustainability. “We are happy to start working with this international group of investors. The composition of technology, textile, and business intel out of their ranks will elevate dimpora to the next level,” said Dr. Mario Stucki, CEO of dimpora.
dimpora makes breathable waterproof membranes based on a proprietary technology licensed from ETH, Zürich’s leading technology university. The technology allows for the creation of novel porous membranes using various materials, including biodegradable or bio-based ones. dimpora’s membranes do not use potentially harmful fluorinated chemicals. The initial focus lies on the outdoor and active apparel market. Current market-leading solutions use potentially harmful chemicals, and safer alternatives usually lack performance. dimpora developed a novel approach enabling the manufacturing of membranes that match or surpass the breathability and waterproofness of leading solutions while at the same time being safer, more sustainable, and enabling circular business models.
“Dimpora’s team has developed a patented, affordable, and scalable membrane technology that has the potential to provide a truly sustainable alternative to existing solutions for the outdoor industry and beyond. We are looking forward to supporting the team as they continue their journey,” said Dr. Olaf Joeressen, who led the round as the responsible senior investment manager at High-Tech Gründerfonds.
Adrian Horotan, general partner at Safer Made, who focuses on replacing hazardous chemicals in consumer products, points out that “dimpora’s membranes enable outdoor and active apparel brands to differentiate on aspects of safety and sustainability without sacrificing performance.”
The team has been working together since May 2018 and brought the membrane out of the lab and in the direction of full-scale production. “While some stepping stones have already been set in terms of scaled-up production, this round allows us to move faster towards a fully scaled production to make our product available to our brand partners all over the world,” explained Dr. Anna Beltzung, CTO of dimpora.
Caroline Brown, managing director at Closed Loop Partners, adds that “Consumers across the globe are demanding more sustainable solutions that better align with their consumer value sets, especially when it comes to the outdoor apparel industry. dimpora’s products illustrate the power of material science innovation to create circular alternatives to the status quo, which can simultaneously benefit people, the planet, and business.”
The elected board of directors includes Sven Serena, former VP production and supply chain of the outdoor brand Kjus, who is now COO and co-founder of Aycane, a brand focused on base layers for ice hockey players; Anton Jurina, former co-founder of the fashion brand Armedangels, who is now co-founder of the brand Maison Heroïne; Caroline Brown, former CEO of Akris Inc. and Donna Karan int., who is now managing director at Closed Loop Partners; and finally the two co-founders of dimpora, Mario Stucki and Anna Beltzung.
The dimpora team (from left to right): Lucile Menand (R&D engineer), Anna Beltzung (CTO), and Mario Stucki (CEO)
To learn more about the Zurich-based Venture Kick winner, we talked to Mario Stucki, dimpora co-founder and CEO, about raising funds, his startup’s mission, and the impact of COVID-19 on business and fundraising.
Mario, you have a PhD in chemical engineering. What inspired you to found dimpora?
Chemical engineers get handed a good toolbox for fixing chemical systems. Already during my master thesis, it was obvious that there is an urgent need to replace the current chemicals used for waterproof and breathable membranes. With the patent application, customer interest, and a co-founder on board, using this toolbox to everyone’s benefit in our own company was the logical conclusion.
For anyone who is not familiar with the process that goes into creating membranes, could you quickly give us an overview of the steps?
The basic idea of a waterproof and breathable membrane is to protect you from the rain but to let your body breathe whilst wearing your rain jacket. We use little rocks—a powder—that allow us to create pores once we remove the rocks from our membranes. The rocks make it very easy to tune the properties of the membranes towards a specific activity. You can take more rocks, thus create more pores for a breathable running jacket or use fewer rocks to get very strong water protection for your ski touring jacket, for example.
You and your team just raised over CHF 2.1 million. How will these funds help you achieve dimpora’s mission to manufacture eco-friendly functional membranes for the outdoor textile industry?
We will start by investing in our team, aiming to scale our company along with the production of our first product. The international scaling of the manufacturing gives us the necessary volume to provide first international collections with brand partners and positively impact nature with each garment sold.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed your business?
We used the initial shock and lockdown to focus on the team and internal structures, which proved beneficial for all the steps we took this last year. Of course, the travel restrictions had an influence on our international scaling plans with production partners. We have learned that working on a production line is difficult to instruct through a Zoom call. Now, with the funds, we will be able to pick up the things that started in the last year and produce membranes.
How did the pandemic affect the fundraising round?
Again, initially, the shock led effectively to a standstill as nobody was sure how things would progress. This was quickly sorted out, and in contrast to production, it’s clear that video calls work a lot better with people working on term sheets and contracts.
You won Venture Kick in 2019. How did the experience and achievement help dimpora grow and raise funds?
Venture Kick and the Kickers Camps, along with the entrepreneurship lectures, kicked me into thinking more about the commercial and business side of a venture. Basically, to grow a good product into a good company and make customers happy.
dimpora makes breathable waterproof membranes based on a proprietary technology licensed from ETH, Zürich’s leading technology university. The technology allows for the creation of novel porous membranes using various materials, including biodegradable or bio-based ones. dimpora’s membranes do not use potentially harmful fluorinated chemicals. The initial focus lies on the outdoor and active apparel market. Current market-leading solutions use potentially harmful chemicals, and safer alternatives usually lack performance. dimpora developed a novel approach enabling the manufacturing of membranes that match or surpass the breathability and waterproofness of leading solutions while at the same time being safer, more sustainable, and enabling circular business models.
“Dimpora’s team has developed a patented, affordable, and scalable membrane technology that has the potential to provide a truly sustainable alternative to existing solutions for the outdoor industry and beyond. We are looking forward to supporting the team as they continue their journey,” said Dr. Olaf Joeressen, who led the round as the responsible senior investment manager at High-Tech Gründerfonds.
Adrian Horotan, general partner at Safer Made, who focuses on replacing hazardous chemicals in consumer products, points out that “dimpora’s membranes enable outdoor and active apparel brands to differentiate on aspects of safety and sustainability without sacrificing performance.”
The team has been working together since May 2018 and brought the membrane out of the lab and in the direction of full-scale production. “While some stepping stones have already been set in terms of scaled-up production, this round allows us to move faster towards a fully scaled production to make our product available to our brand partners all over the world,” explained Dr. Anna Beltzung, CTO of dimpora.
Caroline Brown, managing director at Closed Loop Partners, adds that “Consumers across the globe are demanding more sustainable solutions that better align with their consumer value sets, especially when it comes to the outdoor apparel industry. dimpora’s products illustrate the power of material science innovation to create circular alternatives to the status quo, which can simultaneously benefit people, the planet, and business.”
The elected board of directors includes Sven Serena, former VP production and supply chain of the outdoor brand Kjus, who is now COO and co-founder of Aycane, a brand focused on base layers for ice hockey players; Anton Jurina, former co-founder of the fashion brand Armedangels, who is now co-founder of the brand Maison Heroïne; Caroline Brown, former CEO of Akris Inc. and Donna Karan int., who is now managing director at Closed Loop Partners; and finally the two co-founders of dimpora, Mario Stucki and Anna Beltzung.
The dimpora team (from left to right): Lucile Menand (R&D engineer), Anna Beltzung (CTO), and Mario Stucki (CEO)
To learn more about the Zurich-based Venture Kick winner, we talked to Mario Stucki, dimpora co-founder and CEO, about raising funds, his startup’s mission, and the impact of COVID-19 on business and fundraising.
Mario, you have a PhD in chemical engineering. What inspired you to found dimpora?
Chemical engineers get handed a good toolbox for fixing chemical systems. Already during my master thesis, it was obvious that there is an urgent need to replace the current chemicals used for waterproof and breathable membranes. With the patent application, customer interest, and a co-founder on board, using this toolbox to everyone’s benefit in our own company was the logical conclusion.
For anyone who is not familiar with the process that goes into creating membranes, could you quickly give us an overview of the steps? The basic idea of a waterproof and breathable membrane is to protect you from the rain but to let your body breathe whilst wearing your rain jacket. We use little rocks—a powder—that allow us to create pores once we remove the rocks from our membranes. The rocks make it very easy to tune the properties of the membranes towards a specific activity. You can take more rocks, thus create more pores for a breathable running jacket or use fewer rocks to get very strong water protection for your ski touring jacket, for example.
You and your team just raised over CHF 2.1 million. How will these funds help you achieve dimpora’s mission to manufacture eco-friendly functional membranes for the outdoor textile industry? We will start by investing in our team, aiming to scale our company along with the production of our first product. The international scaling of the manufacturing gives us the necessary volume to provide first international collections with brand partners and positively impact nature with each garment sold.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed your business?
We used the initial shock and lockdown to focus on the team and internal structures, which proved beneficial for all the steps we took this last year. Of course, the travel restrictions had an influence on our international scaling plans with production partners. We have learned that working on a production line is difficult to instruct through a Zoom call. Now, with the funds, we will be able to pick up the things that started in the last year and produce membranes.
How did the pandemic affect the fundraising round?
Again, initially, the shock led effectively to a standstill as nobody was sure how things would progress. This was quickly sorted out, and in contrast to production, it’s clear that video calls work a lot better with people working on term sheets and contracts.
You won Venture Kick in 2019. How did the experience and achievement help dimpora grow and raise funds?
Venture Kick and the Kickers Camps, along with the entrepreneurship lectures, kicked me into thinking more about the commercial and business side of a venture. Basically, to grow a good product into a good company and make customers happy.