STILRIDE offers STILFOLD to other industrial players

The Swedish electric motorcycle startup STILRIDE broadens its offer by making its unique manufacturing process STILFOLD available to designers, architects, engineers and the manufacturing industry at large. The origami-inspired process of bending and folding constructions from sheet steel provides unique construction possibilities, a very distinct design DNA as well as a significantly lower climate footprint for all types of steel constructions. The technology is thus a big step towards a greener manufacturing industry.

The technology surrounding STILFOLD has come about in parallel with the development of the company STILRIDE's first model of the electric motorcycle SUS1, which is planned to be released on the market towards the end of the year. The unique manufacturing has attracted a lot of attention and interest on its own and there have been a number of requests from other companies and players in the market.

We are already working with a number of companies that are interested in how STILFOLD can help create better products and solutions. Currently, we are looking at applications as widely different as furniture, trailers, and bridge construction, says Tue Beijer, co-founder of STILRIDE and the now newly started company STILFOLD.

In order to be able to give better focus to both the own product within STILRIDE and the expert help offered around STILFOLD, they are now splitting into two companies. STILFOLD becomes the parent company that holds the rights to the manufacturing technology and STILRIDE continues to act and focus on the market for electric motorcycles.

The company structure otherwise looks the same as before and the shareholders who financed STILRIDE take equal parts of the newly formed STILFOLD. Among the investors are well-known names in entrepreneurial circles such as Saeid Esmaeilizadeh, Andreas Adler, Gustaf Hagman, Sam Bonnier and Tobias Emanuelsson. The company recently closed an oversubscribed round of a total of SEK 31 million and there is no need to take in additional money at the moment.

-We have been following plans since before and this division is a way to better prepare for the future where we see the need for more focused efforts to sell and further develop our motorcycle, but also an opportunity to greatly broaden STILFOLD as a technology, says Jonas Nyvang, co-founder and CEO of STILRIDE and STILFOLD.

The STILFOLD technique, simply explained, means that, through specially developed software, you draw patterns on a steel sheet which is then cut out, bent and bent into the right shape by a robotic arm. The advantages are many and obvious with the technology. On the one hand, significantly less raw material is required than before and often a more stable, stronger construction is also achieved, even though the raw material can be reduced by up to 30 percent compared to conventional construction. On the one hand, transport needs are reduced considerably as it is easier to directly manufacture the parts needed on site and the steel plate can be sent as "flat packages". The process is also facilitated by the specially designed software that makes it very easy and efficient to model all designs before they are cut out and shaped by a robot.

-The manufacturing industry accounts for around 12 percent of global emissions and STILFOLD is part of solving that problem in the long term. We are already working with a number of large companies that have high goals to reduce their environmental impact going forward, and this solution allows us to take the Swedish leadership position in green steel further into the production phase, continues Jonas Nyvang.

In order to meet the external interest in STILFOLD technology, they have also just hired Ricardo Sá Freire who, as design manager, will focus on helping other companies find the best way to use STILFOLD in their production.

Calculation example: The Golden Bridge

To show the advantages of STILFOLD, they have also made a shorter report and information film about what the effects would have been if one of Stockholm's most famous landmarks, the new Gold Bridge at Slussen, had been produced with the technology. A calculation experiment that shows very large environmental effects around both local production and the mentioned shipping of the bridge from China.

The calculations at Guldbron give, in short:
Up to 20% less material consumption
Up to 60% lower climate footprint
Up to 90% lower climate footprint just for transport

- As an investor, this development is both logical and welcome. This company has stood out as much in terms of a unique product as a unique technology and it makes sense to split the parts at as early a stage as possible to be able to focus properly within each part, says Saeid Esmaeilzadeh who was one of the first investors in STILRIDE and STILFOLD.

STILFOLD, together with Jernkontoret , has produced a short film about the calculations on the Gold Bridge. It can be viewed here:”