Slovak Investment Holding invests in the renowned Slovak GA Drilling Company
Bratislava, 23rd March 2018 – Slovak Investment Holding has become one of the investors in the renowned Slovak high-tech company, GA Drilling. Yesterday this business step was sealed by signing an investment contract. GA Drilling Company is the world's pioneer in the development of innovative technology for non-contact drilling and milling on the principle of electric plasma. New opportunities are opening on the market for geothermal energy, ecological closure of depleted oil wells, tunnelling and raw material extraction.
GA Drilling Company (GAD) is currently in the second round of the B series of raising its capital. The goal is to meet the growth potential of the company and to market the first application of technology to the mining industry. Several major investors, including Slovak Investment Holding (SIH), were interested in investing. Yesterday, a contract for this investment between the two companies was signed in Berlin. GAD also signed an investment agreement with the German investment group, headed by Berlin Technologie Holding GmbH and with the US investor Ted Halstead.
"We are investing in technologies that radically change the entire industry and at the same time bring positive changes for the world. GA Drilling has the potential to achieve both of these aspects. Not only will it significantly change the existing segments but it can also bring the cleanest and cheapest energy source available to anyone," Joern-Carlos Kuntze (Managing Partner, Berlin Technologie Holding), , expressed his opinion.
“We were all waiting for this technology. Once its development has finished, it can literally make miracles to tackle climate change and improve people's lives around the world,” Ted Halstead, expert in the prevention of climate change, commented on his investment.
"I want to express my pleasure regarding the investment in GA Drilling's capital. We are delighted that through our participation we help this company to attract other investors,” stated Ivan Lesay, General Director of the Slovak Investment Holding Company.
On part of SIH it is a recoverable form of financing and an innovative financial instrument from the European Structural and Investment Funds, from the Operational Programme Research and Innovation. SIH's investment was prepared in cooperation with renowned external investment and consulting companies.
„We consider the investment in such a highly innovative technology company as GA Drilling, as a contribution of the Slovak Investment Holding to the gradual transformation of Slovakia into an innovative and sustainable economy focused on products and services with higher added value,“ said Lesay.
Similarly, GA Drilling founder and CEO Igor Kočiš also said „Revenues from intellectual property creation and future technology sales will boost the creation of high added value and the growth of the technology segment in Slovakia. Top research and development will also develop new segments of the domestic industry and it represents an opportunity for Slovak exports. We are glad that after several important foreign investors and industrial partners, GA Drilling has also been supported by another Slovak entity. This will speed up our entry into new markets.“
Slovak Investment Holding will also prepare further capital investments in the area of innovative small and medium-sized enterprises.
About the Slovak Investment Holding
SIH is a joint stock company 100% owned by the State. Its main mission is the support of strategic public and private investments in Slovakia in the areas of infrastructure, energy efficiency, waste management and renewable energy sources, the social economy and small and medium-sized enterprises. Investment funds are drawn from the European Structural and Investment Funds. SIH finances projects in a recoverable form, i.e. it does not provide grants.
About GA Drilling
GA Drilling, a. s., is a Slovak hi-tech company, founded in 2008, which develops breakthrough PLASMABIT electric plasma technology with the aim of changing the global energy mix. PLASMABIT technology can drill deeper than previously economically viable, thereby making geothermal energy available to more than 70% of the world's most populated areas. PLASMABIT has the potential to radically change other industry sectors such as closing and shutting down boreholes in the oil industry, tunnelling, mining exploration, raw material extraction and more. One of the strategic investors of GA Drilling is Schoeller-Bleckmann Oilfield Equipment, an Austrian technology company in the area of mining industry. In 2018, GA Drilling successfully competed in the international competition for the final evaluation of the projects that were supported by InnoEnergy - a group of industrial companies, aimed at supporting innovation in the energy sector.