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Industrya is the name of a 42 million euro fund launched by John Cockerill, SFPI-FPIM, SRIW, Noshaq and LRM. With an incubator and an accelerator, Industrya will aim to support start-ups and scale-ups in order to push the industry sector ever further.
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A wind of optimism is blowing on the sunny John Cockerill building on Friday, June 26. Corridor noise for many months, the industrial incubator of the colossus of Liège is finally launched and will be endowed with an investment fund of 42 million euros. “Today, we want to get out of the anxiety-provoking environment imposed by the health crisis and speak of daring,” says Jean-Luc Maurange, CEO of John Cockerill, enthusiastically.
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Called Industrya, this investment fund and industrial incubator is an initiative of John Cockerill but, through the involvement of other partners, its ambitions go far beyond the Liège basin alone. Indeed, although the company remains the majority shareholder, with a contribution of 22 million euros, the fund is supplemented by the participations of the Federal Company of participations and investment (SFPI), SRIW, the fund investment fund from Noshaq and the Limm investment fund LRM, up to 5 million each.
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Invest, incubate and accelerate
“Here, everything is not a question of providing funds but of support.”
Gildino Tavares
CEO of India
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With Industrya, the objective pursued by John Cockerill and his partners is tosupport industrial start-ups and scale-ups. More specifically, a “hands-on” approach will be adopted in order to invest, incubate and accelerate the young shoots selected by the selection committee. “The fund will take minority stakes in start-ups so that they do not lose agility,” said Gildino Tavares, CEO of Industrya. “Here, everything is not a question of providing funds but of support. This includes monitoring, access to the client portfolio and partners of John Cockerill as well as the expertise of the participants in the project”, he specifies.
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“The fund will only take minority stakes in start-ups so that they do not lose agility.”
Gildino Tavares
CEO of India
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Will be eligible young companies active in industrial sectors relating to energy transition, industrial services and the environment. Defense, another pillar of John Cockerill’s activity, is not concerned here by the incubator “unless there is potential for application in the civil field”. Generally, the selected start-ups will work in B2B or B2B2C. “The most important thing is that they can demonstrate a solid business plan and a certain viability,” added Gildino Tavares.
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Remember that John Cockerill already favored entrepreneurial initiatives within its walls (intrapreneurial). In recent years, 300 projects have even been received and 4 have been incubated by the company. “These initiatives remain eligible, but we wanted to go a step further with Industrya. The objective was to involve people whose job is to support this type of project“, explains Jean-Luc Maurange.
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Contribution of expertise
But in addition to the substantial amount dedicated to the development of start-ups, the strength of the fund and the incubator undoubtedly lies in the plurality of expertise it brings together. By joining forces with two Walloon investment vehicles, a Flemish and a federal body, John Cockerill opens borders and gives access to many networks. Conversely, the alliance with John Cockerill allows investment funds participating in Industrya to have the industrial expertise necessary to analyze the projects presented.
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“Industrya is a good example of the combination we are looking for in our investments: that of return on investment and societal added value.”
