Electric motors and the systems they drive are a central factor in energy demand: A policy brief by the IEA 4E program puts their share of global electricity consumption in 2023 at 53 percent. Against this backdrop, the German manufacturer Additive Drives is receiving new capital. The investor Nordic Alpha Partners is taking a significant minority stake and, according to the company, investing an amount in the mid double-digit million range. Existing investor AM Ventures is also participating again.
Additive Drives relies on additive manufacturing to tailor motors more closely to specific applications. Additively manufactured structures and winding concepts are intended to open up design freedoms—for example in thermal coupling, packing density, or tight installation spaces. For industrial applications, the company cites efficiencies of up to 98 percent. In its communications, Additive Drives positions this above common efficiency classes such as IE5, which are defined in standards of the International Electrotechnical Commission.
“It is truly rare to see a founder team build something so pioneering and at the same time at have such a strong financial performance less than five years after inception. It requires them to make great decisions consistently, and that’s what they’ve done”, said Nikolaj Magne Larsen, Partner at Nordic Alpha Partners.
“We wanted to work with Nordic Alpha Partners because they have a unique toolkit for industrial scaling and navigating industrial transformations”, said Philipp Arnold, Chief Financial Officer at Additive Drives. “We have been cash-positive from early on and we were looking for an operational partner that could really enable us to tap into hypergrowth and expand globally even faster.”
Another focus is the materials side: Additive Drives points to inductive drives without rare earths to reduce dependencies on magnet-based supply chains. The new capital is intended to support expansion of manufacturing, automation, metrology, and quality assurance. The company cites prototype production within 21 days to shorten development cycles and downtime in customer projects, and refers to a placement in a performance ranking by the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
“Additive Drives is a great example of the fact that Europe is still leading the game when it comes to higly advanced industrial technologies. They are already accelerating global electrification and I’m sure we will see entirely new product categories emerge as a result”, said Laurits Bach Sørensen, Co-Founder and Senior Partner at Nordic Alpha Partners.
“Additive Drives is a prime example of the innovative power of the German Mittelstand,” said Arno Held, Managing Partner at AM Ventures. “We are proud to have supported the team from day one, building a technology leader in e-mobility. By introducing our trusted co- investor Nordic Alpha Partners, we are helping accelerate the next growth phase on the path to create a European champion for a more sustainable future.”
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