Spinnova paves the way for technology sales with demo plant test runs

Translation: Original published in Finnish on 4/10/2026 at 7:30 am EET.

Spinnova announced yesterday that it is starting test runs at Woodspin's demo plant to improve the production efficiency of its technology and is preparing to restart production. The news reflects the progress of the company's strategy, as verifying improved solutions at a pre-industrial scale is essential before industrial-scale investments and the start of technology sales. Although test runs are vital for validating the technology, operating the demo plant ties up the company's limited cash reserves, in our view. Thus, we expect the tests to focus on carefully selected runs, at least during the pilot phase.

Demo plant test runs aim to provide essential evidence of the technology's scalability

Spinnova announced that it will start test runs at Woodspin's demo plant (the plant was transferred to Spinnova's ownership in the Suzano arrangements in Q4'25). With these tests, the company aims to verify solutions previously tested at pilot scale to improve production efficiency and fiber quality. In addition, Spinnova stated that its goal is to initiate large-scale production during 2026, based on the results achieved in the test runs.

We believe these steps are essential for the advancement of the company's technology commercialization. Potential partners and investors interested in technology investments require reliable evidence from the company that the fiber technology's cost-effectiveness has improved on a pre-industrial scale before they potentially make decisions on industrial-scale factory investments. The progression of a larger-scale project to the investment phase is a prerequisite for the initiation of technology sales, which are central to Spinnova's business model.

Technology deliveries continue to be the backbone of the business model

We have previously estimated that operating the demo plant is likely to be cash flow negative. As the company's strategy is to sell fiber-producing equipment rather than engage in extensive fiber production itself, we estimate that the company continues to aim at minimizing cash burn. In our view, Spinnova's management has to balance the collection of valuable test data with the management of operating costs. In our view, achieving a zero or slightly positive cash flow at the demo plant could be possible in continuous production if the fiber could be sold at a good price to high value-added customer segments (i.e. potentially outside the textile sector).

We have not yet assumed in our forecasts that the company will transition to continuous production at the demo plant. For the investment story, the start of technology sales in the latter half of the decade is more important than the demo plant's volumes. In our current forecasts, Spinnova will start generating technology-based revenue in 2027–2028.