Groundbreaking ceremony in Italy. Source | nlcomp

On July 10, Northern Light Composites (nlcomp, Monfalcone), an Italian startup specializing in sustainable, recyclable composite materials, officially started work on the construction of rFactory, the company’s first industrial plant.

The new production site, built entirely with sustainable materials (including wood and nlcomp’s composites), marks a strategic step in the growth of the startup, which was originally born in the marine sector, and is now ready to expand into wind energy and high-performance advanced materials.

RFactory will cover an area of approximately 500?square meters. It will host a production line for sustainable composite components up to 20 meters in length, as well as offices, design spaces and a meeting room for working with partners and industrial stakeholders.

The first product to be manufactured in the new facility will be Offshore 34, a racing sailboat designed by Gianluca Guelfi and Fabio D’Angeli, built with nlcomp’s sustainable resins and marketed under the Northern Light brand.

“The groundbreaking ceremony is a moment I would call historic for our company,” says Fabio Bignolini, CEO of nlcomp. “We will finally have the ability to produce entirely in-house, completing our transition from startup to established business. The plot purchased from the Monfalcone Industrial Consortium has the size and location that already allow us, together with our partners and shareholders — especially the Samer Group — to plan future development in sectors linked to boating and wind energy.”

Nlcomp has raised approximately €1.2 million from leading investors and has participated in CDP Venture Capital and Zest’s Zero Acceleration Program.