Industrial Origami Inc., according to an executive at Bentley Motors Ltd., is like the most beautiful woman at the bar: You might not be sure of what's going on, but you want to find out.

That's a pretty sexy analogy for what on the surface appears to be a sheet metal company. But Industrial Origami has turned the entire process of sheet metal manufacturing on its ear, developing ways to form the metal that are environmentally friendly and help the end user drastically reduce costs.

The privately held, San Francisco-based company has raised a total of $32 million in venture funding through three rounds, and it is looking to raise as much as $20 million more next year.

The 30-employee company's patented processes, licensed for use by companies that include Bentley, Audi AG, Whirlpool Corp. and Electrolux, involves stamping "arcs" to specification into sheet metal. The metal is then folded up into the required shapes. [View the complete article]

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