Aliad, the corporate venturing subsidiary of industrial gases producer Air Liquide Group, has disclosed four investments, all of which were made in 2016.
The unit has invested an undisclosed amount in Carmat, the France-based developer of an artificial heart, as part of a joint venture to develop a portable hydrogen fuel cell. Carmat raised $55m from unnamed French institutional investors in February 2016.
Aliad has also provided an undisclosed sum to Solidia Technologies, the US-based developer of technology for the cement industry that can absorb carbon dioxide when it hardens.
Solidia had raised about $78m before raising an undisclosed amount in a 2014 round featuring oil and gas companies BP and Total, the latter of which invested through its Total Energy Ventures unit, building materials supplier Lafarge, chemicals producer BASF, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Bright Capital.
Aliad has also formed partnerships with France-based prototyping equipment provider Poly-Shape and Inpria, the US-headquartered developer of lithography technology for the semiconductor sector.
Inpria raised $10m in February 2016 from Aliad, photolithography technology producer Tokyo Ohka Kogyo, electronics manufacturer Samsung and chipmaker Intel, which invested through their Samsung Venture Investment Corporation and Intel Capital units.