Probably, none of us will forget 2020. The year in which the biggest pandemic in the last century shook the global economy. The year of the great lockdown, with billions of people confined to their homes worldwide. Nonetheless, due to the Covid-19, 2020 was amazingly challenging for markets, especially in the field of the industry activity and TICs. In fact, at GPAINNOVA, the global leading company in dry-electropolishing solutions for metals, medical devices and aquatic drones, we did our best to overcome this scenario and go on deploying our growing strategy, while helping to save lives and to bend the contagion curve thanks to our innovative technology solutions.

In the following lines, we are recapping GPAINNOVA’s main achievements in 2020, the year we made the impossible possible.

1. About to triple the annual turnover: almost €16 millions

Despite the severe global economic and labor crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, GPAINNOVA managed to increase its annual turnover from €5.9 million in 2019 to €15.8 million in 2020, almost three times more than in the previous year. This result is especially due to the growth in sales in metal finishing machines, medical and high performance power electronic divisions. The diversification of the product catalog, with larger and more complex machinery, and the remarkable increase in the average ticket value, explain revenue raising.

2. Growing in employee numbers, with an annual increase of more than 60%

Amid Covid-19 crisis, which shuttered businesses and massive temporary or permanent layoffs in other companies, GPAINNOVA was able to hire 46 new talents, increasing its team from 71 to 117 employees. It means a growth of more than 60%.

All the newcomers are professionals with a strong academic background and experience, mainly in sectors like aviation, software automation, sales and laboratory testing. In addition, some of them hold a doctorate or PhD degree.

3. Among the Europe’s fastest growing companies, according to Financial Times

In March, Financial Times, the world’s leading global business publication, compiled its annual list of Europe’s 1,000 Fastest Growing Companies in 2020, showing organizations that achieved the highest compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in revenue between 2015 and 2018. GPAINNOVA appeared there for the first time, ranking 76th in Europe and 7th in Spain, with a CAGR of 157.7%.

4. Committed to society: creating a new resuscitation device to save lives

In the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, the dearth of equipment for hospitals and sanitary professionals fighting the coronavirus outbreak prompted GPAINNOVA to design a new medical device. The result of this hard work against the clock was RESPIRA, the first high-performance invasive ventilator based on the automation of a manual resuscitation device. The design and prototyping tasks were held in April and completed in only ten days. It also involved to cooperate fully with the main Catalan hospitals —Hospital Clínic, Sant Joan de Déu and Can Ruti—, reaffirming the social importance of such joint efforts.

The resulting machine, which counted with the collaboration and participation of partners like Siemens, SMC, TEG and MAM, was approved by the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices (AEMPS) of the Ministry of Health from Spain, to be used in hospitals as a clinical study.

GPAINNOVA delivered more 250 than RESPIRA devices —more than 100 of them in regional hospitals and medical centers— and currently is about to obtain the CE certification to be sold to any of the European Union member countries.

5. Acquiring POWER INNOTECH: a step forward towards high-performance power electronics solutions

In order to expand its products and services range, GPAINNOVA acquired in December POWER INNOTECH, a start-up focused on innovative technologies within the power electronics field to improve energy efficiency in industrial systems and processes. Its goal is to take advantage of some technologies that had just been used in sectors such as the aerospace industry or the electric car manufacturing.

On the other hand, the acquisition will promote new business lines in strategic sectors linked to sustainability, such as water treatment, power management in hybrid and electric cars and aerospace research.

Thanks to POWER INNOTECH’s know-how, GPAINNOVA will be able to create synergies between its electropolishing brands, DLyte and MURUA, and technologies allowing projects in the aquatic environment.

6. Boosting growth with GPASEABOTS, a technology brand for exploration and preservation of the aquatic environment

In the past year, GPAINNOVA consolidated its spin-off brand GPASEABOTS, created in June 2019, whose activity revolves around floating technology for exploration and preservation of the aquatic environment. The company installed more than 100 buoys to study coastal waters and launched its model SB100, a compact and versatile USV (Unmanned Surface Vehicles) for sheltered waters tasks.

GPASEABOATS has recently reached its first distribution agreements and has successfully closed its first sales. In addition, it created a solid distribution network to sell its solutions in Europe, Asia and America, and the technical staff was reinforced with the recruitment of new specialists.

Likewise, a technological project to clean up seas and oceans was launched and it is expected to be officially presented within the coming months.

7. Selling and installing the first units of our newest surface finishing machines

Concerning its core business line, dry-electropolishing, GPAINNOVA consolidated its latest surface finishing machines: DLytePRO500, launched in November 2019, and DLyte10000 (for customized installation for specific requirements), presented in September 2019. Both are two revolutionary machines specially designed for mass production.

DLytePRO500 is the most advanced, powerful and versatile metal surface-finishing equipment on the market. It is based on the DryLyte ® technology to deliver fully automated high-quality surface finishing for high value, delicate or complex pieces with precise and targeted finishing requirements.

On the other hand, DLyte10000 can be fully integrated in any production line where full automation of the workflow and large batches and heavy pieces can be treated efficiently. Compared to the other existing dry-electropolishing machines, DLyte 10000 can polish hundreds of parts simultaneously.

In 2020, GPAINNOVA delivered its first 10 units of DLytePRO500 and installed the first units of DLyte10000.

8. Consolidating our second delegation in China

GPAINNOVA is committed to consolidating its presence in China, the world’s second largest economy. For this reason, we reinforced our team in our second delegation in this country, opened in December 2019, by hiring another four professionals with high technical and commercial skills. The office is placed in the Baoan district of Shenzhen City, a town on the central coast of Guangdong province.

Our subsidiary in Shenzen is a major step in the GPAINNOVA’s expansion strategy in the Chinese industrial market. This reinforces the activity in its very first headquarters in Asia, which were established in Hong Kong in June 2019.

9. About to inaugurate the new GPAINNOVA’s facility in Barcelona, with more than 5,000 square meters

In 2020, the company acquired the facilities that will host its new headquarters in Barcelona City. The building is spread over an area of 5,000 square meters and will be equipped with latest world class machineries and equipment, a test lab, a showroom, a pool for testing GPASEABOTS’ prototypes and offices for all its departments.

The new plant is also a testimony of the company’s commitment towards its staff, that will also enjoy a restaurant and a fitness room in the GPAINNOVA’s premises. They are expected to be inaugurated in June 2021.

10. HUB DLyte: a new cloud platform to make DLyte technology even easier

In December 2020, GPAINNOVA presented HUB DLyte, a new cloud platform that provides all the information required about polishing processes and electrolyte status, among others. It allows the company’s clients to activate electrolytes and download user and maintenance manuals and product technical data sheets, as well as to monitor parameters for any DLyte machine. This innovative solution allows professionals to be more efficient and to work in greater security. HUB DLyte was launched this year on January 19.

In the coming months, it is expected to add more services to the platform to facilitate the customers’ access to new products, process enquiries and other digital services. The platform includes access to all services via any Internet browser or exclusive access to electrolyte activation from the mobile app (iOS or Android).

According to the founder of GPAINNOVA, Pau Sarsanedas, during the previous months the company went on moving forward toward its goals, set when it was created (2013). Its main objective is becoming a technological platform to successfully implement multidisciplinary, complex and ambitious projects. The purpose is providing to all the companies and people involved all the know-how and material resources they need, which is not always possible in the case of individual initiatives or SMEs.