IonKraft raises €3.5M to commercialise plasma barrier coatings aimed at recyclable plastic packaging

Brussels, December 13th 2024

Summary

›Aachen spin-off IonKraft closed a €3.5 million equity round to prepare market launch and scaling of plasma-based barrier coatings for recyclable plastic packaging.
›RecyClass certified IonKraft’s coatings as compatible with recycling, and the company says its coatings avoid PFAS and other non-recyclable barrier layers.
›Round was co-led by M Ventures and TechVision Fund, with participation from High-Tech Gründerfonds, and follows EIC Accelerator support that helped move the technology from lab to prototype.
›IonKraft plans first customer deployment of an industrial coating system by end of 2024 and product launches in 2025, but commercial scaling faces infrastructure, cost, and adoption challenges.

IonKraft raises financing to push recyclable barrier coatings toward market

IonKraft, a packaging technology spin-off from Aachen University and an EIC Accelerator beneficiary, announced in November 2024 that it has closed an equity financing round of €3.5 million. The funding is intended to prepare the company for a market launch of its plasma-based barrier coatings and to support future scaling of its coating machines. IonKraft says its approach replaces traditionally non-recyclable multilayer and fluorinated barriers and that its coatings have been certified as recyclable by RecyClass. The company aims to deploy its first industrial coating system to customers by the end of 2024 and to roll products to market in 2025.

The financing and investors

The November 2024 equity round was co-led by M Ventures and TechVision Fund, with High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) joining the round. EIC funding and the EIC Accelerator programme were credited by the founders as critical to advancing the technology from laboratory experiments to market-ready prototype machinery. The new capital is earmarked for market launch activities and scaling the industrial coating system.

Item	Detail	Notes
Round size	€3.5 million	Equity financing closed November 2024
Lead investors	M Ventures, TechVision Fund	Co-leads
Other investor	High-Tech Gründerfonds	Participating investor with experience in German deep tech
Use of funds	Market launch preparation and scaling	Prototype production, customer pilots, go-to-market

What the technology does and what RecyClass certification means

Plasma-based barrier coatings:IonKraft’s technology uses plasma deposition to create ultra-thin barrier layers on plastic films. Plasma processes can deposit inorganic or hybrid organic-inorganic coatings that provide oxygen and moisture barriers while using very thin material layers. In packaging those barrier functions traditionally come from metallized films or fluorinated polymers that are difficult to recycle when combined with other polymers. By replacing those layers with a plasma-deposited coating on mono-polymer packaging, IonKraft aims to preserve mechanical recyclability of the plastic stream.

RecyClass certification:RecyClass is an industry-backed system that evaluates packaging formats for compatibility with existing mechanical recycling streams. Certification indicates that, under the protocols tested, the coating does not prevent the package from being processed in defined recycling routes. It is a meaningful endorsement for commercial adoption, but certification is only one step. It does not guarantee uniform performance across all recycling systems or that sufficient sorting and processing capacity exists to capture the material at scale.

PFAS-free claim:IonKraft states its coatings avoid per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. That is relevant because regulators and buyers are increasingly constrained by restrictions on PFAS due to their persistence and health concerns. The company’s PFAS-free positioning aligns with regulatory and corporate sustainability trends, but independent verification and alignment with materials approval and supply chain requirements will be necessary for brand owners.

From lab prototype to industrial machine

IonKraft started as an Aachen University spin-off founded by Dr Montgomery Jaritz and Benedikt Heuer. The business developed a proprietary coating system through EIC-supported work and reports having built a prototype coating machine. Company statements say the first industrial unit is on track for customer deployment by the end of 2024 and that commercial products coated with IonKraft technology will be launched in 2025. Company leadership credits the EIC Accelerator grant with enabling the transition from lab-scale experiments to market-ready systems and with helping to attract early customers and investors.

Policy and market context in the EU

IonKraft’s proposition sits at the intersection of packaging circularity requirements, corporate sustainability demands, and emerging restrictions on problematic chemistries. European regulatory work on packaging and on hazardous or persistent chemicals is raising the bar for recyclability and for the phaseout or tighter control of PFAS. Brand owners and converters are under pressure to meet recyclability claims and to improve product carbon footprints. A plasma coating that preserves mono-polymer recyclability could help packaging converters respond to these pressures if it can deliver barrier performance at acceptable cost and production throughput.

EIC Accelerator support and the GHG tool:IonKraft benefited from EIC Accelerator funding during development. The European Innovation Council also offered an EIC GHG Tool for beneficiaries to assess footprints, though the EIC has noted that the GHG Tool is no longer active. EIC backing can provide both non-dilutive grant funding and visibility to strategic investors and corporate partners.

Investor perspectives and strategic value

The co-lead investors bring complementary assets. M Ventures is the corporate venture arm of Merck and brings strategic reach into life sciences and materials markets and industrial know-how. TechVision Fund focuses on industrial technologies and scaling hardware. High-Tech Gründerfonds is a German pre-seed and seed investor with a track record of supporting hardware and deep tech companies through follow-on rounds. For a hardware company making coating machines and targeting packaging converters, these investors add technical, market and network value beyond capital.

Investor	Profile and potential value	Implication for IonKraft
M Ventures	Merck corporate VC with industrial and material expertise	Strategic access to industrial partners and material science expertise
TechVision Fund	Industrial technology investor focused on scaling hardware	Operational and go-to-market experience for industrial equipment
High-Tech Gründerfonds	German early-stage investor with strong deep tech network	Seed follow-on funding and connections to manufacturing and supply chain

Promises, practical challenges and what to watch

IonKraft’s technology and certification are promising signals. Replacing non-recyclable multilayer barriers and PFAS-containing layers would be a material step for packaging circularity if large volumes can be handled by existing recycling streams. However, moving from prototype to industrial scale reveals a different set of challenges. Converters and brand owners require cost-competitive throughput, repeatable coating quality, long-term barrier performance, and supply chain assurances. For packaging recyclers the key questions are whether coated films will arrive in homogeneous, mono-polymer streams and whether the coatings affect melt quality or recyclate properties at scale.

Scale-up considerations:Hardware companies in packaging face capital intensive scale-up. Coating machines must demonstrate uptime, line speeds, and low defect rates in converter environments. Customers expect trials, accredited testing, and guarantees on barrier lifetime and shelf life. Achieving roll-to-roll processing at industrial speeds with consistent thin-film plasma deposition requires engineering beyond lab prototypes. Energy consumption per metre and maintenance needs will also affect total cost of ownership.

Real world recycling system constraints:Certification under a protocol does not automatically translate to high recycling capture rates. Recycling infrastructure varies across Europe and collection, sorting and washing processes influence whether a particular mono-polymer stream stays pure. Even if coated packaging is theoretically recyclable, the collection and sorting system must deliver sufficient volumes of homogeneous material to maintain market value for recyclate. Export markets and downstream secondary processors also shape economic viability. These are common systemic frictions when introducing new packaging formats.

Timeline, near term milestones and next funding needs

Milestone	Timing reported by IonKraft	Commentary
Industrial coating system customer deployment	By end of 2024	Initial industrial machine deliveries planned for customer pilots
Product launch of packaged goods with IonKraft coatings	2025	Targeted launch year for coated packaging products
Equity round closed	November 2024	€3.5 million co-led by M Ventures and TechVision Fund

The company will likely need further capital to scale manufacturing of coating machines if customer pilots are successful. Industrialising coating equipment, supporting multiple converter lines, and capturing sufficient packaging volumes require capital for production tooling, service infrastructure, and expanded R and D to adapt the coating to diverse substrates and formats. The €3.5 million round is important for market entry but may not be sufficient to reach wider commercial scale without follow-on investment or strategic partnerships with converters or brands.

Implications for circular packaging goals and assessment of claims

IonKraft positions its coatings as an answer to two persistent packaging problems: non-recyclable barrier layers and PFAS-based coatings. If the technology can be deployed at industrial line speeds and in formats used by fast-moving consumer goods companies, it could help meet EU policy aims for packaging recyclability and corporate commitments to reduce chemical risks. But several caveats remain. Certification by RecyClass is an important step but not a substitute for large scale trials in real recycling ecosystems. Adoption by converters and brand owners will hinge on lifecycle cost, supply chain readiness, and demonstrated shelf life performance in the hands of customers.

On the recycling rate figure cited by IonKraft:The EIC article cites an annual rate for plastic packaging recycling of 6 percent. That figure is presented in the source material without underlying context. Recycling statistics vary by polymer, packaging format, national system, and the metric used. A precise assessment of IonKraft’s potential to increase recycling requires disaggregated data and system-specific analysis to understand where the company’s coatings would be deployed and how collection and processing would adapt.

Conclusion and outlook

IonKraft’s €3.5 million financing round and RecyClass certification represent tangible progress for a hardware and materials innovation that aims to make barrier packaging compatible with mechanical recycling. EIC support helped bridge the gap from lab to prototype and attracted strategic investors. The coming months of customer pilots and the planned 2025 product launch will be decisive for validating throughput, cost and real world recyclability. Wider impact on packaging circularity depends not only on the coating chemistry and the machine technology but also on the readiness of converters, brand owners, collection systems and recyclers to adopt and handle the new films at scale.

For policymakers and corporate procurement teams, IonKraft is an example of the kind of material innovation that addresses both product performance and end-of-life considerations. For investors and partners, the company exemplifies the typical path for deep tech hardware: early grants and R and D support, a small venture round to reach pilot customers, and a need for follow-on capital to industrialise and scale. Observers should look for independent assessments of recyclate quality, energy and lifecycle footprint analyses, and transparent pilot results before sizing the technology’s likely contribution to European packaging circularity.

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