Xylowatt, a Belgium-based renewable energy technology developer spun out of Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain), has collapsed under an increasing debt pile, according to L’Echo.
The company declared bankruptcy on January 25 after the spinout’s outgoings had become unsustainable. Its debt reached a total of nearly €5m ($6m) against just $728,000 of cash in hand last year.
Xylowatt will become a dormant business for the time being, but it will aim to keep on 10 of its 20 staff. Chairman Pierre Mottet claimed Xylowatt would re-emerge soon to continue work on multiple projects, without offering a timeline.
Founded in 2001, Xylowatt was looking to commercialise technology that converts wood chippings into biogas. It eventually completed its first industrial installation in 2017, building a two-story reactor for the University Hospital of Mont-Godinne.
The spinout won a contract to replace a gasifier in Croatia following that first project and was hoping to gain similar clients in Europe and Japan.
Xylowatt had bled a total of €30m by 2017 and was looking to raise additional equity financing. It obtained an undisclosed amount from Aliad, the corporate venturing division of industrial gases company Air Liquide, and engineering company John Cockerill in 2014.
Walloon government-owned entities SRIW and SFPI had supplied an undisclosed sum in 2009.
Xylowatt’s shareholders also include a range of private investors, including former chief executive Olivier Lefebvre.

Xylowatt, a Belgium-based renewable energy technology developer backed by industrial gases producer Air Liquide and engineering firm John Cockerill, declared bankruptcy last month, L’Echo has reported.

Founded in 2001, Xylowatt was looking to commercialise technology that converts wood chippings into biogas. It eventually completed its first industrial installation in 2017, building a two-story reactor for the University Hospital of Mont-Godinne.

The company declared bankruptcy on January 25 after its outgoings had become unsustainable. Its debt had reached a total of nearly €5m ($6m) against just $728,000 of cash in hand in 2020.

Xylowatt will shut down its business for the time being but will aim to keep on 10 of its 20 staff. Chairman Pierre Mottet said it will re-emerge soon to continue work on multiple projects.

John Cockerill and Air Liquide subsidiary Aliade had invested in the company in 2014, five years after it raised a similarly undisclosed sum from Walloon government-owned entities SRIW and SFPI.

The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.