UK-based advanced materials company High Temperature Material Systems (HTMS) has successfully closed its £300,000 pre-seed funding round. The round was led by SFC Capital, with participation from BBI Investments and a leading UK based angel investor. The funding will be used to accelerate go-to-market and expand the product into a number of other industries.
HTMS was established in 2021 by two of the UK’s leading composite engineers, DrDanilo Di Salvo and Dr Richard Grainger. The company specialises in producing ceramic matrix composites (CMC) that have historically been used in the aerospace and defence industries, and are now expanding their use case to a number of novel industries including space, nuclear, automotive and energy. CMCs, which were previously underutilised in the UK market, are now generating interest within the advanced materials business as high temperature operation requirements become more apparent. HTMS has created new, low-cost, multi-functional oxide-based CMC materials that allow systems to run at substantially higher efficiency.
HTMS was backed in 2022 by MBDA, one of Europe’s largest defence companies, through winning the Ceramic Matrix Composite Airframe Technology Challenge competition. As a result, HTMS has steadily been building its technology capability as well as commercial partners, which now include the UK’s National Composites Centre. The company has also recently partnered with the UK Atomic Energy Authorityopening up the realms of oxide-based CMCs.
The company is also recently joined by Luke Logan FREng, who worked with Rolls-Royce for over 20 years and was the chief engineer behind the Airbus A380 engine (Trent 900). The company has now developed a strong team to develop its capabilities for the coming years ahead.
Danilo Di Salvo, CEO at HTMS, commented “We are delighted to have SFC Capital invest in the business and we look forward to working and learning together with one of the UK’s largest investors. HTMS is at the forefront of advanced materials development and we are excited to expand into a wider range of industries over the coming months”.
Adam Beveridge, Investment Associate at SFC Capital added “HTMS are leading the way in the UK in advanced materials development, proven by their previous work with MBDA. Building on its deep tech abilities, we are looking forward to seeing their development within and outside the UK very soon”.