Nanotech startup Feelit raises $7 million led by Continental and Henkel

Haifa-based nanotech startup Feelit has completed its first significant funding round, announcing on Monday that it has raised a $7 million Series A, four years after its founding. German automotive parts giant Continental and Henkel Tech Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Henkel Adhesive Technologies, each invested $3 million, with the Vasuko Global Tech Fund investing $1 million.

Feelit was founded in 2017 by Gady Konvalina (CEO), Meital Segev-Bar (CTO) and Prof. Hossam Haick of the Technion, with all three being experts in chemical engineering and materials engineering.

The industrial sensor developer was the winner of Calcalist and KPMG Israel’s Industry 4.0 startup competition in September 2019.

“This funding round is a significant step in our global strategic efforts,” said Konvalina. "We're excited to have Tier 1 international partners on board who provide us not only with capital, but in addition, contribute their extensive strategic knowledge, experience and market reach.”

Feelit develops printable sensors that can monitor the state of various materials. The sensors monitor a device’s structural integrity, deformation, warping, wear and tear, internal or external pressure buildup, and internal or external material flow. With a 50 times higher sensitivity compared to current standard market applications it allows condition monitoring and predictive maintenance of industrial assets, like valves, pipes and pumps, and prevents unplanned and costly downtimes of machinery.

“Data access and quality are key challenges in any predictive maintenance setup, especially when dealing with legacy infrastructure," noted Nils Berkemeyer, Partner at Continental’s venture capital unit. "Feelit’s state of the art sensing technology seamlessly integrates with any existing manufacturing setup and delivers superior data quality via proprietary non-invasive sensors. We are excited to be an early backer of such a transformative company and see various key applications at Continental, which can thrive in combination with Feelit."