New Zealand’s leading specialist seismic engineering company, Tectonus has raised NZ$8 million in a recent funding round led by New Zealand deep-tech venture capital firm Pacific Channel. Other investors who participated in the capital round include NZ Growth Capital Partners, Nelson Angels, K1W1, Angel HQ and a group of existing shareholders including current management.

Tectonus co-founder Pierre Quenneville says the investment provides the capital and expertise required to accelerate the company’s global growth strategy, delivering an innovative engineering earthquake solution that offers significant safety, sustainability and economic benefits not achieved by conventional seismic technologies.

“Importantly this investment allows us to rapidly scale our plans to drive sales in Canada, where we have already successfully installed our patented earthquake protection technology in two highly engineered timber-based construction projects, focus on other key regions including Japan and North America, and expand our New Zealand based R&D team.

“To facilitate this pathway and extend our global reach, we are thrilled to announce the appointment of our CEO, Carl Beck who brings a wealth of experience in growing early-stage companies and will be instrumental in driving sales into key global markets. Carl will lead a newly appointed management team and assist in expanding the New Zealand R&D team to further develop a robust application pipeline,” said Mr Quenneville.

Tectonus CEO, Carl Beck said “Right now, Tectonus is on the edge of exponential international growth and it’s an exciting time to be joining the company. Our earthquake protection technology can save communities and businesses billions of dollars in economic losses that result from a seismic event. We see huge market potential in North America and Japan, and Pacific Channel’s investment allows us to go out and capture that market.

Pacific Channel Partner, Kieran Jina said “Our strategic investment represents the confidence we have in Tectonus’ ability to achieve commercial sales targets in key global markets, but also recognises the full potential of the technology to be scaled across a range of other applications including resilient dampers for liquid storage tanks, resilient cross-bracing for buildings and real-time building health monitoring through instrumentation of IoT sensors.

Mr Quenneville adds “Tectonus has successfully validated the technology and to date secured eighteen commercial projects, fifteen of which have now been completed. In addition to the work in Canada, notable local builds include Nelson Airport, Lincoln University Science North Building and Hutt Valley Health Hub.

“Designed to save buildings, and lives, this a single device that automatically re-centres and dampers a building during an earthquake and the subsequent aftershocks,” said Mr Quenneville. “It’s a significant step-change solution over current anti-seismic technologies and what’s really exciting is the unrivalled advantage we offer mass timber-based construction.

“Because of its compelling environmental attributes, timber is increasingly being used by the engineering and construction sectors, over traditional materials such as concrete and steel. This presents a huge opportunity for Tectonus and the global building industry because it provides superior earthquake protection without compromising on the sustainability and economic benefits achieved by using timber.

“Securing this investment is not only a major milestone for Tectonus it’s a huge step forward to ensuring people, building and economies are protected following a seismic event. We are incredibly proud to be at the forefront of this shift,” said Mr Quenneville.

Source: Tectonus