Limatech is a Toulouse-based deep tech scale-up developing certified lithium-ion batteries for aviation and aerospace applications. Founded in 2016, the company is on a mission to decarbonise flight – replacing the ageing lead-acid and nickel-cadmium batteries that have powered aircraft for decades with a lighter, safer and longer-lasting lithium iron phosphate (LFP) alternative.
We spoke with Aurélien Gibert, Deputy CEO and Partner at Limatech, at the EIC Scaling Club Growth Forum in Paris to learn more about the company's technology, the team behind it and the journey from a laboratory prototype to Europe's first fully certified lithium battery producer for aerospace. Listen to the interview here or watch the video below:
Aviation has a battery problem. The lead-acid and nickel-cadmium technologies that have served aircraft for generations are toxic, heavy and increasingly out of step with an industry under pressure to reduce its environmental footprint. And yet, for years, no European company had successfully brought an alternative to market – because certifying a new battery chemistry for use in certified aviation is one of the most demanding regulatory challenges in any industry.
“The goal from the beginning was to offer a safe technology – a new kind of technology – for aerospace applications. This is not a fast-moving world, because everyone is dedicated to offering safe solutions, and we need time to develop that,” says Aurélien.
Limatech was built to close that gap. The company develops LFP lithium batteries specifically engineered for aeronautical environments, designed to operate across an extreme temperature range of –40°C to +70°C and to withstand the vibration, electromagnetic and safety requirements of certified flight. The results speak for themselves: Limatech's batteries are three times lighter, 2.5 times more efficient and last 2.5 times longer than the incumbent technologies they replace.
The immediate application is engine starting – supplying the power to turn over thermal engines on commercial aircraft, helicopters, business jets and military platforms. But the roadmap extends further. As Aurélien explains, today's starting battery is a stepping stone towards tomorrow's hybridisation and electrification architectures, where high-performance lithium cells will be essential components of any credible sustainable aviation proposition.
The company, born in 2016, is today led by a focused three-person management team: Florence Robin, CEO and co-founder, who has steered the company since its inception; Aurélien, who leads commercial and operational strategy as Deputy CEO and Partner; and Luc Pouyadou, CTO, who oversees technical development.
Toulouse – the self-styled European capital of aeronautics and home to Airbus's headquarters – was a deliberate choice of base, giving Limatech proximity to the manufacturers, regulators and supply chain partners that matter most in this industry. The city's deep aerospace ecosystem has proven invaluable as the company has navigated the long path to certification.
Building a deep tech industrial company requires a different kind of team than the software startups that dominate the venture landscape, and Aurélien is candid about what that has meant for Limatech. “We had to invest heavily in capex from the very beginning,” he says. “The financial world was not always educated about industrial products – there was a lot of SaaS-model thinking, and that made fundraising a genuine challenge early on.” Growing into that reality has shaped how the company is structured and how it makes decisions.
For a company operating in certified aviation, every milestone is earned slowly and defended rigorously. Aurélien is clear-eyed about the timelines involved: new aerospace projects typically require ten to twelve years from concept to deployment. Building a startup around that reality – while simultaneously managing the pressures common to any early-stage company – has been Limatech's defining challenge.
The first major breakthrough was building trust with a major aerospace player. For six years, Limatech has worked closely with one of Europe's most prominent aircraft manufacturers, a relationship that provided both validation and the sustained technical engagement needed to push the product towards certification-readiness.
“Having this trust and building this relationship was a very huge win for us – and being able to offer, for the first time in the world, a European solution for new lithium battery applications in aerospace.”
The regulatory milestones followed. In April 2023, Limatech received Production Organisation Approval (POA) from EASA's French counterpart, certifying the company's manufacturing and quality systems – a status held by fewer than 500 companies worldwide.
Then, in September 2024, came the headline achievement: full ADOA and ETSOA certification from EASA itself, making Limatech the first European designer and producer of lithium batteries approved to bring its product to the commercial aviation market, and only the second such player globally.
On the funding side, the company has raised €20 million – hard-won capital for an industrial hardware business – to finance the construction of its Toulouse facility and the continued development of its technology.
“Even though the path to funding has been difficult for everyone, we were able to raise 20 million euros in our industry – and we were very happy about that.”
For Limatech, involvement with the EIC began as a financial lifeline at a time when industrial deep tech was still poorly understood by most of the investment community. Being selected for the EIC Accelerator was, in Aurélien's words, “a very huge recognition” – external validation that the company's technology and commercial approach were credible.
Membership of the EIC Scaling Club has taken that relationship a step further. Aurélien describes it as moving from broad institutional support to something more tailored: experts who understand where Limatech is in its journey and can connect the company with the right people at the right moment.
“Being involved in the EIC Scaling Club is a new recognition from one of our investors – being seen as one of the startups with the chance to make it. And with this dedicated relationship, we feel that the EIC can focus more on our actual challenges. For us, they are the most relevant group of people to connect our company with the next most relevant group of people at the most relevant time.”
With certification secured, a factory operational and a long-term partnership with a major aerospace player already in place, Limatech is entering the commercialisation phase with considerable momentum – and a clear runway ahead.
Watch the full interview with Aurélien below, or visit our YouTube channel to explore more video content:
The EIC Scaling Club is a curated community where 120 European deep tech scale-ups with the potential to build world-class businesses and solve major global challenges come together with investors, corporate innovators and other industry stakeholders to spur growth.
The top 120 European deep tech companies have been carefully selected from a pool of high-growth scale-ups that have benefitted from EIC financial schemes, other European and national innovation programmes, and beyond.
The EIC Scaling Club is an EIC-funded initiative run in partnership by Tech Tour, Bpifrance (EuroQuity), Hello Tomorrow, Tech.eu (Webrazzi), EurA and IESE Business School.
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