Plyable Secures $3.2M Investment to Deliver Lightweight Custom Composite Marketplace on a Global Scale

Plyable, an award-winning composite mould producer has now received a total of $4.25M investment to fund the growth of its time and significant cost-saving composite tooling solution.

The demand for composites is growing exponentially, with the incredible, rapid innovation seen in aerospace, electric vehicle and marine industries. Plyable’s impressive customer base spans all these sectors. This latest injection of investment will fund the growth of its time and cost-saving composite tooling solution, benefiting innovators, engineers and industry disruptors across the board.

Martin Oughton, Plyable’s Founder, said; “The world of composites today is a vast green field and a highly fragmented $100bn artisan market – one that’s been overlooked, until now. We’re delighted that [Maven, Solvay and Forward Partners/our investment partners] share our vision and are supporting Plyable to continue to innovate and modernise the composites industry.”

Plyable customer, GKN Aerospace, currently receive their moulds 44% faster than the traditional supply chain – and at a 20% cheaper cost than their traditional suppliers offered. The funding will enable the Plyable team to build on this remarkable time/cost saving technology/process, accelerate the company’s growth as the leading market disruptor in composite tooling and achieve its mission to become a ‘one-stop-shop’ for composite projects.

With Plyable’s ‘one-stop-shop’ model in place, the user will be able to upload entire assemblies – part, mould, jigs and off the shelf items – and Plyable will not only provide an instant quote and lead time, but also AI driven ‘design for manufacture’ feedback, including suggestions and digital simulations. For the composite engineer this will instantly validate design decisions, simultaneously cost and specify the project production time, and take care of the end-to-end procurement process.

Led by Maven Capital Partners, the latest $3.2M investment was supported by composite industry leaders Solvay and leading early-stage VC Forward Partners returning for this round, bringing Plyable’s total equity funding to date to $4.25M.

Alexander Sleigh, Investment Director at Maven added: “The innovative, forward-thinking team behind Plyable are a key reason behind us investing. Martin Oughton honed his engineering skills working across a number of roles for teams in Formula 1, Americas Cup and for aerospace companies. Adam Lofts is an experienced start-up CTO who has created an incredible tool, not short on deep complexity behind the scenes, on a shoestring. That mix of experience, complementary skills, risk appetite and tenacity are some of the things that get investors excited too.”

Plyable was selected to be part of Boeing’s Accelerator Programme in 2020. Nichola Bates, Head of Global Accelerators and Innovation Programs at Boeing concludes: “We are delighted to see Plyable go from strength to strength since being part of the Boeing Accelerator Programme in 2020. They understand the importance of delivering quality products and service in an increasingly challenging marketplace. Plyable harnesses technology to differentiate and propel the business forward. We are excited to see how this investment will drive the next phase of their journey and will continue to support them!”

Plyable and its technology enables engineers to drop a CAD file for a composite mold or component into their web-app, to receive instant, AI-generated recommendations for optimum mold design – before arranging production, inspection and delivery. As the company rapidly expands in the AI sphere, the funding will also put ‘boots on the ground’ at Plyable’s recent incorporations in North America and Europe.

Website: www.plyable.com