Unum plans expansion following successful investment round

Unum Aircraft Seating is gearing up for expansion following its recent investment round, which saw significant investments from Origin Capital and the Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 (LCIF2).

The seating company is set to expand its team, with senior hires to build operations, supply chain and through life support teams in preparation for its initial customer programme, which will expand on the company’s existing design and certification teams.

It will also expand its range of seats, create an initial factory blueprint, gain regulatory approvals as well as initial certifications for all products, and will invest in the required capital equipment to support its initial production requirements.

Chris Brady, Founder and CEO, Unum, called the support from the investors “a real vote of confidence” in Unum’s vision to be a sustainable and credible alternative in business class seating.

Following the investment round, Andrew McAuliffe of Origin and David Wright of LCIF2 will join Unum’s board of directors.

“As the aerospace market swiftly recovers from the pandemic, and with the global aircraft fleet set to double in the next 20 years, we believe there are significant opportunities for Unum, which offers a great product, produced sustainably,” said Tim de Vere-Green, Founder and CEO, Origin Capital.

David Wright, Director, LCIF2 fund manager Turquoise International, agreed that Unum’s products will make “a significant contribution to their customer’s journey to net zero.”

“We were attracted to Unum’s commitment to place sustainability at the heart of its organization – reducing embedded carbon within the seat by choosing the most sustainable materials available and having an elegance and simplicity of design to reduce weight and therefore fuel burn over the life of the seat,” said Wright.