Ljungberg family’s climate initiative Longrun Capital makes its first investment outside Sweden
Longrun Capital has invested in the Norwegian company Hybridized’s capital round totaling approximately SEK 45 million with the aim of creating a new standard for insulating glass. A glass facade accounts for 10-20% of a building’s total embedded carbon dioxide. With Hybridized’s new production method, insulating glass can be manufactured cost-effectively with 30 – 50% less material consumption, increased opportunities for recycling and consequently significantly reduced carbon dioxide emissions. In addition, integration of several smart features such as transparent solar cells and dynamic solar shading is simplified.
– For us, it is important to be at the forefront of the green transition. We do this not only as a customer in our construction and real estate business, but also by financing companies with great climate benefit and thereby ensuring the supply of new innovative solutions, says Johan Ljungberg, CEO of Tagehus and Chairman of the Board of Atrium Ljungberg.
Longrun was founded in 2021 by Johan Frenckner and the Ljungberg family with the aim of accelerating the green transition in the construction and real estate sector. The focus is on new advanced materials and energy solutions along the entire value chain. Since its inception, Longrun has made seven investments and has, among other things, helped to finance Ekolution’s production of hemp-based insulation and GreenIron’s production of fossil-free iron. With a focus on the Nordic region, Longrun is now taking the first step outside Sweden to enable a new production method for insulating glass.
– Glass partitions are one of the building elements with the highest climate emissions and the glass industry is challenging to decarbonize. The embedded carbon dioxide in the construction phase can be significantly reduced by the fact that the Hybridized solution both radically reduces material consumption, and at the same time enables reuse and recycling of the glass used. In addition, the insulation values can be improved without increasing material consumption, which also reduces the climate impact throughout the life of the building,” says Johan Frenckner.
For 40 years, it has been technically possible to replace the inner glass sections with a very thin plastic film, and there are about 25 million square meters of insulating glass with this type of solution installed around the world, including in the Empire State Building. However, until now there has been no efficient production method, which has meant that this solution has so far only been a niche product manufactured manually. Hybridized has now patented an automated and modular solution that handles extremely thin materials and can be integrated into existing insulating glass production lines.
– Hybridized’s solution has the potential to radically change the production of insulating glass. With a more climate-friendly product combined with cost-effective manufacturing, we hope that Hybridized will eventually establish a new standard for insulating glass. The plastic film that replaces intermediate glass sections can also be treated to obtain specific technical properties. Hybridized’s manufacturing method can therefore enable glass sections that contribute with more advanced functions in the future, such as the production of electricity, heating and dynamic solar shading,” says Atle Geving, founder and CEO of Hybridized.
NorDan, one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of windows and doors, and the automation company Cody are also participating in the capital round. In total, approximately SEK 24 million in equity is invested and in addition, Hybridized receives approximately SEK 21 million in grants from Innovasjon Norge and Telemarks Utvecklingsfond.
– The capital will be used to develop a full-scale production module. “Once we have proven the technology, the next step will be to establish a factory in Notodden outside Oslo with a full production line for hybrid insulating glass,” says Atle Geving.
Left: Johan Frenckner (co-founder and partner of Longrun Capital). On the right: Johan Ljungberg, CEO of Tagehus and Chairman of the Board of Atrium Ljungberg.
Links:
AGC_Brochure_SustainableGlassSolution_1024_EN.pdf
About Longrun Capital:
Founded in 2021 by Johan Frenckner and fam. Ljungberg and is a venture capital company that invests in climate technology innovations with great potential to accelerate the transition in the construction and real estate sector. Longrun focuses particularly on enabling technologies in energy and advanced materials.
Total assets under management: SEK 300 million
Investments in climate companies: total 80 mSEK
- NODA Intelligent Systems AB
- Drupps AB
- GreenIron H2 AB
- Ekolution Holding AB
- NSS Water Enhancement Technology AB
- 3eflow AB
- Hybridized AS
Other investments totaling SEK 220 million
- Gordon Services AB
- Roaring Group AB
- Printler Group AB
- ImagineCare AB
- And another 5 companies
Contact person:
Johan Frenckner
+46 733 710 209
johan.frenckner@longruncapital.com