SpinDrive Raises Funding to Scale Magnetic Levitation Bearing Technology
SpinDrive, a Finnish company providing active magnetic bearing (AMB) systems, has raised new growth funding. The company’s frictionless machinery products enable industrial end-users and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to achieve higher energy efficiency and productivity, while reducing operational emissions, maintenance costs, and pollution from oil-based lubricants.
The funding will be used to increase support for SpinDrive’s growing U.S. customer base, expand its U.S. market presence, and launch the company’s new Magma X100 magnetic bearing controller product line. Long-time investors, U.S.-based Rhapsody Venture Partners and Innovestor of Finland, led the round. The funding follows a period of rapid scale-up for SpinDrive, which has deployed Magma X800 systems with customers in Germany, France, the U.S., Finland, and other countries.
“In the past two years, we’ve significantly increased our customer base to include several multi-billion-dollar companies with stringent requirements. This growth capital allows us to accelerate further our build-up of sales and customer services. Alongside, we’re excited to introduce Magma X100 to the market. Magma X100 brings the benefits of AMBs to applications for which there has been no technical solution to date. Our new product is small in form factor and a fraction of the cost of existing AMB systems. We believe the benefits of AMBs will revolutionize a broad new set of appliances and machinery,” said Janne Heikkinen, CEO of SpinDrive.
Traditional industrial bearings rely on oil lubrication and mechanical contact between moving parts, leading to energy loss, wear, and frequent maintenance cycles. Bearings are among the most common components in rotating machinery. Their friction-related inefficiencies collectively consume vast amounts of energy, directly impacting the efficiency of electric motors in applications such as compressors, pumps, turbines, and blowers. According to the International Energy Agency, industrial electric motors account for nearly half of global electricity use, meaning that even small efficiency gains can yield major reductions in energy consumption and emissions.
SpinDrive's magnetic levitation bearings eliminate friction by suspending rotating components without physical contact. This frictionless operation delivers maintenance-free performance for over 20 years, removes the need for oil-based lubricants, and enables significant energy efficiency gains. In contrast to traditional ball bearings that require replacement every 12-18 months in high-speed applications, SpinDrive's systems include integrated condition monitoring without external sensors, reducing overall equipment maintenance costs by over 80 percent.
A notable case demonstrating SpinDrive’s impact is a large-scale paper mill in Turkey operated with the equipment provided by Runtech Systems, where a RunEco EP Turbo Blower with SpinDrive’s controller has delivered over 50 percent energy savings on a 1 MW unit, equivalent to nearly one kiloton of CO₂ mitigation per machine per year.
