French aircraft seat maker Expliseat has raised €36 million ($42 million) in new financing that it intends to put toward developing new seats and toward expanding its global footprint, including in North America.
The fundraising comes after Expliseat in April revealed a major brand redesign, which the company pitches as reflecting its evolution from a start-up challenger in the seat market to an established player.
“The capital raise will support the company’s efforts to strengthen manufacturing capabilities, expand its product range toward premium offerings for the North American market, and accelerate… expansion in key markets with high growth potential, starting with the US market,” says the Paris-based firm.
The company has been in business since 2011 and carved a niche selling its lightweight titanium and carbonfibre TiSeat economy seats, which include its new 6kg (13lb) TiSeat 2X Lite.
It now aims to develop “a new generation of premium ultralight seats and strengthen its competitiveness”.
The firm operates an assembly plant in the French city of Angers, where it produces 32,000 seats annually, and has a presence in Montreal.
“We are in discussion with several local partners to establish our customer support network in the US, including repair and overhaul capability and spare-part depot and distribution,” the company tells FlightGlobal. A “manufacturing facility is being evaluated and discussed with potential customers”.
Expliseat’s TiSeat E2s are already found on De Havilland Canada Dash 8 turboprops operated by Canadian carrier Porter Airlines, Boeing 737-400s operated by Canada’s Nolinor Aviation, and Air Tahiti’s ATR turboprops.
Additionally, the company has agreements to install its seats on Dash 8s operated by regional airline Jazz Aviation, which flies under the Air Canada Express brand, and Air France regional carrier Hop’s Embraer 190s.
Companies behind Expliseat’s new financing include investment firm Credit Mutuel Innovation, Bpifrance, Supernova Invest and Swen Capital.
