Octoglass Investor Webinar

Manoj: And we’re live. So, good morning, good afternoon and good evening to you all, wherever you are. Thank you for joining us today on this SmartGlassWorld webinar, sponsored by Octoglass. This webinar represents a call for investment into a new electrochromic smart glass factory, which is going to be built and run by Octoglass and we’re joined today by the co-founder of Octoglass, Mr. Vladislav Kravchenko. Hello Vladislav! 

Vladislav: Good afternoon to everybody.

Manoj: 

So, just a few words of introduction: SmartGlassWorld is a global industry portal, dedicated to the smart glass sector and Octoglass are developers of patented electrochromic smart glass technology which has a superior colour neutrality. 

Manoj:  So who is this webinar for? It’s aimed primarily at venture capital investors, business angels, private wealth advisors, private equity firms and family offices, who are looking to make a clean-tech capital investment in smart glass technologies with the aim of reducing the global carbon footprint. How does smart glass achieve this? Well that’s what we’re going to be explaining in this webinar. 

Manoj: So Vladislav, could you tell us about the investment opportunity that Octoglass is proposing to the global investor community? 

Vladislav: We, the company and the team, have experience in smart glass sector for a decade. We’ve worked with different types of smart glass and finally became developers of new and superior electrochromic solutions. 

We already do marketing of our organic polymer electrochromic electrically adjustable-tint glass and we also developed even more advanced technology. This is our hybrid inorganic electrochromic device. 

Its key advantages are very low cost in production, neutral grey color of tint and absence of haze. What we need to do now is to build the production factory and start sales of our hybrid electrochromic smart glass.

Manoj: Okay so let’s talk a bit more about the industry sectors where smart glass is actually used. Vladislav, could you tell us a bit more about the sectors where you can currently find electrochromic smart glass today? 

Vladislav: Electrochromic smart glass can be used everywhere where you need to add additional privacy, reduce glare or increase comfort. Electrochromic glass not only changes its light transmission but it also reduces UV radiation and reflects efficiently IR radiation. In other words, it rejects harmful rays and heat from the sun. 

That means that such kind of glass can be used at a number of industries. The biggest interest is of course at construction buildings, including large multi-story offices as well as small residences, all for external glazing. 

Retail displays can also benefit from this product. It can attract customers to big and small shops alike. Currently we use our polymer solution for automotive, railroad and aerospace industries. 

Marine, railroad: electrochromic smart glass can be used everywhere where you need to reduce light transmission and save money on lighting, cooling or heating of interior; not forgetting about privacy. 

Of course there are some special applications. For example you can use electrochromic glass for protection against the decay of heritage or art objects so there are numerous application ways of electrochromic smart glass but the most important are architectural, transport and retail.

Manoj: Okay, so one of the major benefits of electrochromic smart glass is the energy savings it can bring to the architectural and construction sectors. Vladislav, could you tell us why electrochromic smart glass is so suitable for building facades and what is static glass? 

Vladislav: Manoj, it’s very simple. When you use an ordinary glass as a window you don’t have an ability to control the amount of light that passes through. 

In daylight you need to use curtains or blinds but that doesn’t completely solve the problem due to uneven shading. You can install tinted glass but then in the evening you need to turn the lights on. With the help of electrochromic glass you can efficiently reduce glare at daytime and let the natural light illuminate your room at evening, delaying starting of artificial light. 

Further, electrochromic glass reduces UV radiation so your interior won’t be burned out with the sun. Electrochromic glass also reflects infrared radiation. That means that at hot summer day you save money on air-conditioning of your premises. 

At the same time during the cold winter nights you save money on heating because electrochromic glass doesn’t allow heat to escape out through the glass. It reflects heat back into the building. 

Manoj: So what are the other benefits then, for example transportation or healthcare, commercial offices or retail? 

Vladislav: Electrochromic smart glass can be used at any place where there is a necessity for reduction of glare or increase of privacy. 

Transportation – how many times you feel uncomfortable because of strong incoming sunlight when you drive your car or trailer with a train or in an airplane? Electrochromic smart glass is designed to solve this problem. 

Some regions have local regulation that demands privacy for patients at hospitals or ambulances. When a patient is inside a private space no one should be able to see him or her. But if there is no patient present the space should be observable. 

So in general, there are thousands of use cases for neutral-tinted electrochromic smart glass.

Manoj:  I see, that is interesting. So looking at the next slide then, we see obviously very clear growth in the smart glass market with approximately 40% of all smart destined for building and for construction but in fact as far as I understand the market capacity should in fact be even bigger and one of the major reasons for that, as I understand from you, is that the current market players have chosen what you call a ‘full vertical integration’. 

So Vladislav, can you explain what that means? 

Vladislav: Other companies who work with electrochromic glass due to some technical reasons are trying to build their own vertical integrated value chain. Starting from depositing of electrochromic layers and down to installation and maintenance but it seems that this approach doesn’t work well because these companies can’t get access to the end users who prefer to work with their current suppliers and the suppliers are not interested in any kind of promotion of products they don’t own. 

So we are sure that the market has much bigger capacity than it has now. And our clients prove that.

Manoj:  Okay, so I understand then, looking at this next slide, that the glass industry value chain is quite complex with many players. Viewers can see the diagram on the slide showing the various roles in the glass industry. 

So Vladislav, could you walk us through this diagram and explain what role your new venture will occupy and how will your new venture improve value to the end customer? 

Vladislav: In the first place, this diagram represents current and traditional value chain at the glass market, mostly architectural area. It works in this way in this way everywhere in the world. 

Float glass manufacturers, and there are not so many of them in the world, process raw materials like sand and soda into large-size flat glass. Usually they produce 100 thousands of square meters of flat glass per day so they are very large. 

Next are glass unit processors. They cut flat glass to necessary size, polish, bend, drill, and execute all other types of operations. There can be hundreds of such companies of different size in the region. 

Next players are the window manufacturers who use prepared glass and manufacture final products like windows, that can be installed at buildings. 

Next window installers enter into the business. They mount windows at the concrete place. And at the tail of the chain we can see the end users who ordered the windows. Usually they are developers or architects. 

This value chain has been in operation for decades and it works very well. 

And our task is to squeeze between float glass manufacturers and glass unit processors. Why? We shouldn’t destroy already existing value chain. Instead of that we need to use its benefits. 

We obtain flat large-size ordinary glass from float glass manufacturers. We deposit electrochromic layers on it and transfer all necessary parts to the next player in the chain. In that case it works as usually and we have access to the whole glass market; to all of its customers.

Manoj: So we can see in this next slide in fact the patents that Octoglass has, both granted and pending.  Can you explain a little bit more about what these patents are? And what state of development they are in? 

Vladislav: Intellectual property in such kind of business is very important. We protected in our work as much as we can. The previous year, we were granted with a patent for our hybrid inorganic and full solid-state in organic electrochromic modules at place at our residence in Russia. 

Also we apply to a number of patents for our current marketing product that is organic polymer electrochromic glass and we already received two patents in Russia and Korea. Other patents and patents in other jurisdictions are still under registration.

Manoj: Okay so the question is: why invest in Octoglass? Well, Octoglass has the intellectual property and the team to create a hybrid electrochromic solution with an improved colour neutrality and reduced haze, increasing the market adoption for smart glass in the construction and in the global retail display markets which will be worth an estimated 128 billion dollars by 2025. 

You can see the sources of those estimates at the bottom of this slide. 

So just think of all the buildings you have seen and ask yourself the question: ‘How many have smart glass?’ And when you consider the vast energy savings per building; well there you have your market. 

But why is Octoglass electrochromic smart glass such a good fit to these markets, Vladislav? 

Vladislav: Manoj, when we are speaking about superior, colour-neutral features, we mean that our smart glass doesn’t have any parasitic colour cast when a user looks through it, neither at fully transparent nor at fully coloured states. 

Our glass is tinted into a grey colour that is natural to a human eye. Grey color is desired by any customer. Besides, natural color of tinted electrochromic smart glass doesn’t have any visible level of haze. That is important because haze is very annoying thing for people. 

You can see through the glass at any angle and without any kind of disturbance. And we shouldn’t forget about the main feature when an ordinary user can change light transmission of the glass with just a press of a button, or by a signal from an automatic system. 

That is very convenient and you are absolutely right. We have intellectual property, we have a motivated team, knowledge and research results. What we need now is some resources in order to get into the market with our superior product.

Manoj: Ok, so we can see from this next slide; Octoglass clearly has a very knowledgeable and experienced team. Vladislav, can you explain who is going to be executing this project and what their roles are on the team? 

Vladislav: Well Manoj, we have three persons as the core team. Let’s briefly review them from the bottom of the slide. 

First of all let me introduce Mr. Dmitry Bernt: Dmitry is our guru in physical vapour deposition equipment and processes. His responsibility will the everything that is concerned with the thin film deposition. 

Next expert is Mr. Dmitry Knyazhev. Today Dmitry occupies a role of a technical director and a leader of organic polymer electrochromic development group. His main responsibility will be polymer electrolyte that is used in hybrid electrochromic glass. 

And I can introduce myself as the team leader. My duty is to make all the things work. Also, I lead the development of the electronic controllers for the smart glass. 

Aside from these three persons we have five more specialists in chemistry, thin film deposition and related areas. I can say that the team we have can do any kind of work connected with electrochromic devices. 

In addition we have already established business relationship with more than 10 research institutes and companies in Russia and Europe and they support us in our development.

Manoj: Okay so that is the end of the webinar. Here you can find the contact details for Octoglass. I want to open up the floor now for any questions; if you have any questions please type them into the chat on the right hand side. 

In the meantime I would like to thank our guest, Vladislav Kravchenko of Octoglass for joining us on this call. 

Vladislav, do you have any final thoughts or messages to our webinar viewers? 

Vladislav: I would like to thank all the attendees for their interest and I hope that your time was not lost in vain. I would like to emphasize once again that now we have a unique opportunity to enter a nascent market without noticeable competition and with a very high potential. 

We have knowledge and power to conquer this market. Thank you, Manoj. Waiting for the questions. 

Well I don’t see any questions, so I want to thank everybody for the time and especially you Vladislav, and I wish you the very best in your venture. 

Vladislav: Thank you to you. 

Manoj: Thank you.