JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #87 - March 2014 Special JEC Europe - 19

business

"We've gone from about US$ 700 000 to
about US$ 7 million in four years"

interview

RocTool, a specialist in the design and development of technologies
for molding composites and plastics, announced the transfer from
NYSE Euronext to NYSE Alternext with a capital increase of € 3.6
million. Driven by three major world markets with great potential -
consumer electronics , consumer products and automotive - RocTool
wants to accelerate its international development and invest in its
existing subsidiaries and create new ones, notably in Germany and
Japan.

JEC Composites Magazine: Not
even fifteen years old, and
already a listed company -
you've come a long way!

Alexandre Guichard :

It's true that it is an important
step in the life of our start up,
and we're proud of our itinerary.
At the same time, RocTool
developed its technologies from
scratch, starting with only three
people almost literally "in a
garage", and managed to attract
investors who injected about
US$20 million to finance R&D
for a period of 10 years, with
practically zero sales from 2000
to 2010. But we could have gone
even faster and been listed on
the stock market four or five
years after we were established.
On the other hand, if we took
more than ten years to take
wing, it's because we did have
to resolve some technical, commercial and financial problems
first. And a team that comes
together in difficult conditions
always comes out with stronger
bonds. RocTool is characte-

rized by its capacity to propose
unique disruptive innovations
at the international level and to
anticipate future trends, and by
its terrific marketing power. The
company's trademark is to never
give up, and so it often manages
to share its vision, sooner or
later.
JCM: For those who aren't familiar with RocTool yet, could you
tell us more about your business
model, which is unique in our
sector?

A. G. : We have a "licensing
out" business model. We have
about 80 patents worldwide,
and grant patent licences either
to the major brands, or to their
tier suppliers. Once our technology has been transferred and
production started, RocTool
receives a royalty percentage.
Composite experts all over the
world swore that we would
never be able to sell a single
licence, much less to a major
brand or an OEM, saying that
this wasn't the software busi-

Alexandre Guichard
President
RocTool

ness. Today, RocTool has forty
licences or so with major brands
and OEMs, and in view of
ongoing discussions, we should
increase that to about a hundred
agreements within 4-5 years.
JCM: What are RocTool's sales
today, and which sectors carry
weight in your business?

A. G. : We've gone from about
US$700,000 to about US$7 million in four years. We're about
to become a key player in the
smartphone and touch-screen
tablet markets, and already have
licence agreements with
five of the world's 10
largest players.
We also have ten or so
ongoing development
programmes in the
automotive sector, for
both premium cars and
consumer vehicles. We
think that our technologies will become essential there, too. Then we
have 3-4 sectors where

we are just starting out, but with
great ambitions: in baggage and
leather goods, fuel cells, certain
luxury goods, and also sports &
leisure, including things like ice
hockey and sport shoes. There
are many applications for our
technologies.
When RocTool started out in
composites in 2000, the market
was oriented towards expensive
parts in low volumes. What
we've been interested in from
the very start is just the opposite: large volumes of affordable
parts. I think that RocTool has

Moto X Smartphone with composite shells

No87 March 2014 /

jec composites magazine 19
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #87 - March 2014 Special JEC Europe

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