UnitySC raises EUR 48 million with Jolt Capital, the French State and Supernova Invest
(c) Pierre Jayet
(Montbonnot, France, and Singapore, 1 June 2022) UnitySC, the leading provider of metrology and inspection equipment for the semiconductor industry, today announces a successful EUR 48 million funding round led by Jolt Capital, the French State through French Tech Souveraineté (a program operated by Bpifrance) and Supernova Invest.
Driven by sectors like automotive, IoT or communication devices, demand for electronic chips is rising sharply, both in volumes and performances. Measurements and inspection of wafers at every step of the manufacturing process are becoming ever more critical to ensure minimal rates of failure and increase yield. Advanced packaging, such as three-dimensional integrated circuits (3DIC), one of the current key drivers for semiconductors performance, can require over 1000 fabrication steps, each one a vector of potential failure. With cascading defects, the overall yield can dramatically plummet, making high-speed quality control the best insurance and an ideal way to save energy and reduce costs.
UnitySC is already an essential reference at many wafer manufacturers and IC foundries, with hundreds of machines installed and a leading position in the field of 3DIC metrology. Beside advanced packaging measuring, UnitySC offers a full range of equipment dedicated to other types of high-end processes, most notably in patterned and un-patterned defect inspection for compound semiconductors, transparent substrate or specialty devices (MEMS and power, automotive, RF).
Headquartered in France, UnitySC has a global footprint with subsidiaries in Germany, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, China, and USA. With a broad and growing portfolio of over 150 active patents, the company benefits from decisive technology advantages that offer competitive edge in the areas of improved throughput, higher sensitivity, or the ability to measure on both sides of wafers.
With 70% growth since 2020 and a YoY doubling of revenue expected for 2022, UnitySC is scaling 3 times faster than the global market of semiconductor capital equipment. Bookings also continue to demonstrate a very healthy trend.
UnitySC’s EUR 48 million financing round is led by Jolt Capital, the French State through French Tech Souveraineté, a program led by the General Secretariat for Investment (SGPI) and operated by Bpifrance, and Supernova Invest who will join historical and majority shareholder Fogale Nanotech on the board of directors. These new financial resources will expand and accelerate UnitySC’s growth initiatives, and will be used to finance working capital, a new ambitious R&D program, new subsidiaries openings in China and Korea, new manufacturing capabilities and a demo lab in Asia. The funding will enable UnitySC to further establish its leadership in the growing market of semiconductor metrology and inspection equipment, expected to pass the EUR 5 billon mark by 2024.
Quotes
“In the past 2 years, despite the global supply chain challenges, our team has demonstrated its ability to scale market adoption and improve profitability. Demand for compound semiconductors and advanced packaging is booming, which strengthens UnitySC’s market positioning by our differentiated metrology and inspection solutions. This significant new round of funding, led by a series of professional investors well accustomed to the challenges of scaling deep tech, will allow us to turn the company into an unshakable leader of next-gen IC chips’ quality control,” says Dan Lee, Chief Executive Officer of UnitySC.
“At Jolt Capital we particularly like companies like UnitySC, with a unique and protected solution, based on hard engineering, requiring complex manufacturing steps, addressing B2B markets that are pervasive but little-known at the same time. We’ve been following UnitySC since its creation as a spin-off of Fogale, and we also played a direct role in the consolidating acquisitions made in 2016 and 2018. We are thrilled by the giant steps UnitySC has made since then and delighted to have gathered the French public investment bank Bpifrance and our deeptech peers at Supernova Invest to continue writing the successful story of UnitySC and turning them into a giant of semicon capital equipment,” comments Pierre Garnier, Managing Partner at Jolt Capital.
”We are happy to support UnitySC, a leading French actor in the semiconductor sector”, adds Maud Henrotte, Investor at Bpifrance. “Through world-recognized technologies, UnitySC has demonstrated its unique capacity for innovation in support of this industry.”
“We have identified UnitySC as one of the promising high-growth companies targeted by our new Supernova Ambition Industrie fund dedicated to the scale-up phase of industrial deeptech. A reference player in one of the sectors we know best and like most, microelectronics, UnitySC has reached a major inflection point and has started an impressive commercial and industrial growth. We are pleased to participate in the financing of this phase and to accompany the company and its seasoned management team.” comments Régis Saleur, founder and managing partner of Supernova Invest.
Contacts and boiler plates
For additional information on UnitySC, please contact:
(Singapore) Dan Lee, CEO : dan.lee@unity-sc.com
(France) Eloi Delorme, CFO : eloi.delorme@unity-sc.com +33 674078475
For additional information on Jolt Capital please contact:
Philippe Perez : philippe.perez@jolt-capital.com +33 6 23 82 67 19
For additional information on France 2030 and SGPI :
Marion Dos Reis Silva : presse.sgpi@pm.gouv.fr 01 42 75 64 58
For additional information on Bpifrance please contact:
Sarah Madani : sarah.madani@bpifrance.fr +33 1 42 47 96 89
For additional information on Supernova Invest please contact:
Florian Ridard (Vae Solis / PR Agency) : florian.ridard@vae-solis.com
Media contact (Mascaret, formerly known as Dentsu Consulting)
Gildas de la Monneraye : gildas.delamonneraye@mascaret.eu +33 6 58 18 78 25
About UnitySC | www.unity-sc.com
UnitySC, headquartered in Montbonnot, France, is recognized worldwide as a key player in inspection and metrology, combining advanced technologies in automated optical inspection and 3D imaging with high depth of focus line scanning, temporal-mode interferometry, spectrometry and phase shift analysis. This enables customers to deliver higher yields and achieve faster time to market. UnitySC provides standard and customized solutions adapted to specific industrial needs and constraints, enabling a new era in process control.
About Jolt Capital | www.jolt-capital.com
Jolt Capital provides growth equity financing to European B2B technology companies about to go global and with current revenue from €15m to €50m. Led by seasoned investors and former C-level executives, Jolt Capital actively drives portfolio companies’ expansion and exits. Jolt Capital’s proprietary AI platform, Jolt.Ninja, exponentially improves mapping of Europe’s technology ecosystem, ESG-compliant deal flow generation, due diligences and post-investment activities.
About French Tech Sovereignty
Launched in June 2020 by the Government, French Tech Souveraineté is an investment package managed by Bpifrance, with both an offensive and defensive vocation, and with an initial fund of €150 million to support French technology companies, developing technologies of the future of a sovereign nature, which may fall prey to major foreign players or be overtaken by competitors who manage to better finance themselves.
About France 2030
The investment plan France 2030:
· Reflects a dual ambition: to sustainably transform key sectors of our economy (energy, automotive, aeronautics or even space) through technological innovation, and to position France not only as a player, but as a leader in the world of tomorrow. From fundamental research to idea generation to the production of a new product or service, France 2030 supports the entire life cycle of innovation, from concept to implementation to industrialisation.
· Is unprecedented in its scale: €54 billion will be invested so that our companies, universities and research organisations fully succeed in their transition to new strategic sectors. The challenge: to enable France to respond in a competitive way to the ecological and economic challenges of the coming world, and to bring out the future champions of our sectors of excellence. France 2030 is defined by two intersecting objectives, devoting 50% of its expenditure to the decarbonisation of the economy, and 50% to emerging innovators without impacting on the environment in keeping with the Do No Harm principle.
· Will be implemented collectively: designed and deployed in consultation with economic, academic, local and European players to determine its strategic orientations and key actions. Project leaders are invited to submit their file via open, demanding and selective procedures to benefit from the support of the state.
· Is steered by the General Secretariat for Investment for and on behalf of the Prime Minister and implemented by the Ecological Transition Agency (ADEME), the National Research Agency (ANR), the Public investment bank (Bpifrance) and the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC).
Media enquiries : SGPI - presse.sgpi@pm.gouv.fr - +33 1 42 75 64 58
About Bpifrance | www.bpifrance.fr
Bpifrance Investissement is the management company that handles Bpifrance's equity investments. Bpifrance is the French national investment bank: it finances businesses – at every stage of their development – through loans, guarantees, equity investments and export insurances. Bpifrance also provides extra financial services (training, consultancy) to help entrepreneurs meet their challenges (innovation, export…).
About Supernova Invest | www.supernovainvest.com
Supernova Invest is the leading deep tech Venture Capital firm in France, managing €400+ million AUM. The current portfolio includes 70+ impact startup companies that develop products and services leveraging breakthrough technologies in 4 transition-centric sectors: Health, Energy & Environment, Industry 4.0 and Digital Technology. For 20 years, Supernova Invest has been providing long-term capital, operating experience, and strategic support to back sustainable growth of tomorrow’s deep tech and industrial champions throughout the Venture Capital life cycle: seed, early, late and growth stages. Supernova Invest also gathers the entire deep tech value chain to support portfolio companies: industrials, corporate, research centers and co-investors. Supernova Invest is backed by the largest asset manager in Europe Amundi and by the most innovative public research organization in Europe CEA.