(Bloomberg) -- US manufacturing giant 3M Co. has entered into a strategic partnership with a Swedish startup to develop worker safety equipment powered by solar-cell technology.

Exeger Sweden AB will integrate its self-charging solar cells into a range of 3M products starting in 2024, according to an emailed statement on Thursday. The company didn’t disclose any financial information related to the new contract.

The company — founded in 2009 with SoftBank Group Corp. among its backers — uses thin, flexible solar-cell material called “Powerfoyle” to convert light into energy. The application has already led to headphone deals with Adidas AG and Urbanista. 

In terms of funding, Exeger is now seeking a further €20 million ($21.3 million) in equity in addition to the roughly €70 million it raised over the past couple of years, according its founder and Chief Executive Officer Giovanni Fili.

“We are currently working with Citi and looking at a combination of debt funding and equity,” Fili said in an interview.

Fili also said that the signed commercial contracts are “opening up new debt funding opportunities” and pointed to a €35 million loan from the European Investment Bank to help the company scale up production at its new plant outside Stockholm. 

Despite a need to ramp up production capacity to meet customer demand, Fili has no immediate plans to list the company, currently valued at €500 million, on the stock market.

“The IPO markets haven’t been very strong to say the least,” he said. “We don’t see things improving much in the near term.”

Still, “when the time is right we’ll be ready internally,” he added. “We’ve already done a lot of the work.”

Read More: Swedish Firm Behind Adidas Self-Charging Headphones Weighs IPO

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