Together with Founder, Ethan Faghani, Volvo Penta and Qamcom Group form invest in a start-up under the company name Cetasol. The new company, Independent Small-medium size Enterprise (SME), is based on a spinoff from Volvo Penta and will be targeted to help commercial marine vessels minimize emissions and maximize efficiency. The company was formed with the support and guidance of CampX, the Volvo Group’s global innovation arena for technology and business transformation.

By initiating Cetasol, Volvo Penta and Qamcom Group are investing in the start-up of the company, which will be led by Co-Founder Ethan Faghani.

How it started

Cetasol starts with the development and offering of iHelm, a marine digital platform for optimization of fuel consumption or energy usage. The iHelm idea came from within the new technology development team at Volvo Penta and was led by Ethan Faghani, the former Chief Engineer of Automation and AI at Volvo Penta. It was recognized that this solution could have a large impact on the fuel efficiency of customer operations. A preliminary pilot test was run with a Volvo Penta customer, which showed a 17% reduction in fuel consumption. At this stage, the idea was lifted out of Volvo Penta and evaluated in CampX. From here it was decided to spin off into a start-up together with Ethan Faghani and Qamcom Group. Qamcom Group, founded in 2001 – and positioned between wireless connectivity, autonomous systems, and industrial IoT – is a leading technology group with experience in co- founding and investing in new technology-based companies. Having been a competent partner to Volvo Group in other projects it was a clear choice.

“The current pace of technological developments means we need to find additional