South West based startup Lineat Composites has been named as the Manufacturing Startup at the South West finals of the StartUp Awards 2023 on the 15th of June.
Lineat Composites is leading the development of commercial fibre alignment technologies and products to turn single-use carbon fibre into the multi-use commodity material of the future. Current carbon fibre material formats are expensive, hard to form into shape and highly wasteful to use with poor recycling routes. It is 10x more expensive than aluminium and has a 20x higher footprint CO2e than steel, yet more than 90% end up in landfill.
Lineat’s core technology is the patented Aligned Formable Fibre Technology (AFFTTM). It takes carbon fibre waste, reclaimed from end-of-life or from process, and aligns the carbon fibres into a new aligned fibre tapes. This forms the next generation sustainable material by closing the loop for carbon fibre. The newly created AFFT tapes are becoming a new commodity material that have three unique properties. Firstly, it retains the high strength properties carbon fibre is known for, secondly it adds unique formability to simplify manufacturing, and thirdly it allows use and multiple re-use of carbon fibre in technical components.
The StartUp Awards were established in 2022 to highlight the success of StartUps across nine UK nations and regions, and to celebrate the achievements of entrepreneurs in all sectors of the economy.
The South West final was held Clock Factory in Bristol and saw 25 different awards given out to new businesses in categories such as Graduate StartUp of the Year, Innovative StartUp of the Year and Social Enterprise StartUp of the Year.
Helen Bierton, Chief Banking Officer at Starling Bank says:
“Our StartUp awards finalists and winners in the South West have shown that it takes more than just a good business idea to be a successful entrepreneur. From Rising Stars and Young Entrepreneurs to Rebel and Innovative StartUps, the contributions of these firms – all of which were started in the last three years – are outstanding!”
Professor Dylan Jones-Evans OBE, creator of the awards, said the events have celebrated the best new firms in the UK and recognised the amazing entrepreneurial talent across the nation. He said:
“In the second year of the South West Startup Awards, we have seen yet again the incredible contribution of new businesses to job creation, innovation, and prosperity across the whole of this entrepreneurial nation. It’s been an honour and a pleasure to read the stories of those individuals from across the South West who have spotted the opportunity and taken the risk to launch their own venture, especially at a time when the economy is still fragile after the Covid pandemic.”
