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Bcomp offers a blueprint on how startups can turn materials innovation into market leadership
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If there’s one tech trend that has truly taken off in 2025, it’s materials innovation. Companies are pioneering sustainable alternatives, such as eco-friendly textiles, to replace traditional, more polluting ingredients.
Swiss company Bcomp is a leading provider of sustainable, high-performance bio-based materials that aim to decarbonise various industries. The company sits firmly in the scaleup phase, unlike most of its newer materials innovation counterparts, but in doing so, demonstrates salient lessons for those in the space.
I spoke to Christian Fischer, CEO and co-founder at Bcomp, to learn more.
A material science engineer by training. Fischer studied at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, culminating in PhD studies where he met his early co-founders to build lighter reinforced backcountry skis.
"We used flax fibres initially to reinforce balsa, which is the lightest wood on Earth, and we discovered the potential of flax fibre composites.
At first, our dream was to launch a ski company, but we soon realised that the real innovation lay in what we had developed inside the ski."
Be prepared to pivot … more than once
Fischer admits, "While our original dream was to launch a ski company, we soon recognised that the true innovation wasn’t just in the skis but in the core material we had developed. Instead of starting a ski brand, we decided to focus on refining and commercialising this core technology.
Bcomp built a supply chain and started selling these innovative cores.
However, it quickly realised that despite its prominence in Switzerland, the ski industry is ultimately a niche market.
"This led us to shift our focus toward the broader potential of flax fibre composites—not just as a material for skis but as an enabling technology with applications far beyond winter sports."
The company now has three core product offerings:
PowerRibs: a patented reinforcement grid inspired by leaf veins, designed to enhance stiffness and impact resistance while minimising weight.
AmpliTex: a range of flax fibre fabrics that replace traditional carbon and glass fibres in composite materials. Known for its lightweight properties, vibration damping, and reduced CO₂ footprint, AmpliTex™ is widely used in applications ranging from automotive interiors to high-performance sports gear.
PowerRibs Thermoplastic (TP) ia variant of PowerRibs, specifically developed for large-scale mobility production–
Get your IP in order
Companies entering the composite space often struggle with the transition from textile-based processes and quality standards to technical-grade requirements. Bcomp has been able to partner effectively with these players, helping bridge the gap.
On the other hand, manufacturers already familiar with composites—those working with glass or carbon fibres—are now looking to adopt natural fibres. Their challenge lies in optimising fibre organisation, where Bcomp has "cracked the code."
Through extensive R&D, the company has tackled significant hurdles such as moisture uptake, UV protection, and durability, which are critical when working with natural fibres that inherently absorb water.
Bcomp has built intellectual property around fibre functionalisation, giving it a significant head start. While competitors are beginning to recognise the market opportunity, no other company currently offers the same level of integrated solutions.
Target innovation-driven markets that can lead you to your moonshot industries
"Finding early adopters was probably the most difficult part," admits Fischer.
Bcomp’s strategy first extended from skis into racket sports and water sports. These industries are pro-innovation, with relatively short sales and design cycles and low regulatory barriers.
Advancing into motorsports enabled the company to demonstrate its tech in the automotive space. According to Fischer:
"Motorsports is a very dynamic industry—teams are eager to build faster, lighter cars and anything that helps decarbonise their applications is of high interest."
Unlike highly regulated industries, motorsports teams often have simple material requirements: "They need lightweight, safety, and easy integration without reinventing the supply chain."
This eventually opened doors to standard car manufacturers.
As Fischer admits:
"We are in the business of building credibility. Initially, you have none, so it’s all about proving yourself to demanding industries."
By working with Porsche Motorsports, Bcomp demonstrated its ability to meet extreme performance standards. This credibility later helped them break into the mainstream automotive industry, where material requirements are significantly tougher:
"In motorsports, specs fit on a one-pager. In road cars, materials need to last 10–15 years, and the spec list is much longer."
Leverage early adopters to access bigger markets
Bcomp’s breakthrough came with Polestar, Volvo Cars, and CUPRA, some of the first automotive brands to adopt its natural fibre solutions.
"Having like-minded partners helps a lot. Polestar set sustainability high on their agenda early on, even when the industry was still fairly cynical."
In 2024 the company raised $40M Series C funding round with the backing of CVCs BMW i Ventures, Porsche Ventures, Volvo Cars Tech Fund and Airbus Ventures demonstrating their confidence in Bcomp’s high-performance, flax-based bio-composites.
Data can be your competitive edge
Bcomp not only develops innovative materials but is able to track their carbon footprint and compare it to existing alternatives,
According to Fischer:
When a customer wants to replace an existing component—like a fender or rear wing—with Bcomp’s solution, the team conducts a reverse engineering process.
"We ask them to share how the part is currently built, then we analyse it and show them how to manufacture it using our material. In the same step, we calculate the CO₂ footprint of both the existing and new solutions."
By comparing traditional carbon fibre composites with Bcomp’s natural fibre-based alternatives, the company can provide precise CO₂ savings calculations.
"We are in the substitution business, so we can tell them exactly how much CO₂ they will save by switching to our solution."
Further, offering life cycle assessments (LCA) as part of the material transition process has been a powerful customer acquisition tool.
"Eventually, sustainability data will become a commodity—every company will need a clear understanding of their product’s life cycle.
But right now, it’s not yet standard practice. By being able to do the math for them, we help customers decarbonise their supply chains while proving our credibility."
Be prepared to build the tech to make your tech
Bcomp generally integrates its materials within existing capacity where possible.
For example, Fischer explains, "In weaving, we make minor modifications to standard equipment to accommodate our raw material inputs. However, we had to create entirely new manufacturing processes for certain processes—such as the two specialised yarns we’ve developed, which require 3D structuring."
This month, Bcomp invested in a state-of-the-art production facility in Fribourg, Switzerland, as a pilot plant for its thermoplastic PowerRibs™ technology in the large-scale mobility market.
This highly automated new facility enables Bcomp to develop new manufacturing methods, scale effectively and maintain full control and optimisation from start to finish.
As the push for decarbonization intensifies, Bcomp’s approach—agility, leveraging IP, data-driven insights, scalable manufacturing — offers valuable lessons for any company looking to turn breakthrough materials into market-ready solutions.
Lead image: Bcomp. Photo: uncredited.
January 30, 2025 at 03:04PM