16. Vikela: the world’s first producer of 3D printed body armour

Founder: Peter Gilleece
Year founded: 2020
Website: vikela.tech

It was while chatting to some friends who were in the army that Vikela founder Peter Gilleece heard something shocking. “They were saying how heavy their equipment was. It was so heavy, they would purposely remove it because it was so cumbersome,” he recalls.

Gilleece was stunned. Body armour alone, he learned, can be as heavy as 15kg. And it is sometimes so poorly designed that it risks the wearer’s safety more than ensuring it. At this point, most of us would probably have shaken our heads and moved on. Not Gilleece. 

As a mechanical engineering student at Queen’s University Belfast, he buried himself in research and discovered that traditional Kevlar body armour (first introduced in the 1970s) comes in just three sizes. Blades can penetrate supposedly stab-proof vests by up to 3cm. Astonishingly, female armour is tested to defend against half the force of male armour. 

After leaving university in 2020, Gilleece raised the money to buy a 3D printer. Zuckerberg-style, he successfully designed lighter, better fitting armour that combines kevlar and carbon fibre and offers equal protection for men and women (and, crucially, comes in more than three sizes).

Gilleece is matter-of-fact about this achievement; perhaps because so many more have followed. Vikela has since closed an investment round, moved into a 20,000 sq ft factory in Bangor, and signed partners in the US, Japan, and the UK. Vikela also gained Home Office certification, officially becoming the world’s first producer of 3D printed body armour. 

As if that wasn’t enough, Vikela’s armour is also 100% recyclable. It can be returned to the manufacturer to be recycled in house after use, to make new armour with the old material.

Innovation can be a double-edged sword. Gilleece’s world-first geometric design meant he still found himself being constantly asked: ‘does it work?’. “It bothered me so much that we shot a video of me being hit with an axe,” he says. Well, that’s one way to silence the critics.

Non-believers bothered me so much that we shot a video of me being hit with an axe.

Vikela makes standard Kevlar armour look positively mediaeval. And with its production scaling and a European expansion on the cards, the latter will likely fade to rust. This is the definition of a disruptive startup, which is why it’s in position #16 for 2025.