OrganoClick – from test tube to profitable growth

OrganoClick is a chemical and materials technology company that supplies and manufactures bio-based materials and chemical engineering products that can replace plastics and toxic pressure impregnation chemicals for timber and textiles.   

In the mid-90s, professors Armando Córdova and Jonas Hafrén at KTH Royal Institute of Technology asked: What makes wood so strong? And why are leaves water resistant? Which molecules cause these processes to function? And can the processes be imitated to create sustainable materials for daily use? Mårten Hellberg, a molecular biotechnology engineer who has always been interested in sustainability, was quick to jump on the bandwagon. Finding ways to replace toxic plastics and chemicals with green alternatives would create a whole new playing field.    

“The run-up was long. Cellulose fibers are the basis of materials like textiles, paper and wood. And we developed a basic technology called cellulose fiber modification. By changing the properties, we could make materials stronger, water repellent, and resistant to fire and mold. Going from test tubes at the university to a finished product took six years,” says Mårten Hellberg.  

And thus: OrganoClick has developed a chemical technology that replaces toxic chemicals and plastics with green alternatives. They supply a variety of different manufacturers, often industrial companies.   

“A product like this costs money. We’ve needed to find investors to develop the product, get materials, build a factory and find workers. We’ve had different financiers in different phases and it’s been strictly venture capital, but in 2015 we went public and, after that, sales increased and now we’ve reached positive operating profit before depreciation. To keep growing and developing, we needed various forms of flexible investment loans for production equipment and working capital. So it was important to find banks with flexible solutions, and Norion Bank was an important partner for us.”