Inkjet & Digital Printing

LumeJet wins City investment award

Tuesday 10. July 2012 - LumeJet's recently announced investment package of £1.87m, has won 'Best Syndicated Deal of the Year' at the annual UK Business Angels Association Annual Awards Dinner that took place on 2nd July. The dinner, sponsored by the City of London and held at the Globe Theatre, saw the presentation of six awards to both entrepreneurs and investors, celebrating achievements in the early stage investment market.

The award is notable for being granted to a company developing imaging technology and printing machinery, and is therefore aligned with the government’s goals of encouraging ‘High Value Manufacturing’ businesses in the UK.
The LumJet deal, said the judges, was chosen as an example of one of the most extensive syndicates of different angel groups and early stage funds across the UK. It was jointly lead by Wren Capital and LBA, Qi3 Accelerator, Martlet Corporate Angel Fund and Cormorant Corporate Finance (for the existing and new independent shareholders). In addition to the new investors, £900k was raised from Midven and existing angel shareholders, bringing the total shareholder base to an impressive 63.
Commenting on the award Paul Anson, CEO of LumeJet said; “Winning this award demonstrates recognition for both the existing shareholders who have backed the company from its inception, and the new investors who have shared that belief and come aboard in the recent round. It has been crucial to allow LumeJet to proceed with final stages of development of its commercial printer, and will see the business through beta testing and into full-scale commercial production.
He continued; “When we set out to attract this round of investment I would never have thought that it would attract such a large and diverse group of investors or that we could put it all together in 4 months. It is tribute to all involved that it came together so smoothly and that has, I believe, been recognized by the judges.”
LumeJet offered investors the opportunity to support a leading-edge technology, completely created in Britain, which has the potential to reach markets globally. LumeJet’s print quality, from digital files, is unsurpassed and, in the long term, there is an opportunity to create a heavyweight global brand and business. The company has in place a highly experienced CEO who has already built up and exited a business in the same sector and a vastly experienced management team in support.
While the company’s technology was originally developed to work on photographic (AgX) media, with the advent of modern chemical design combined with the ultra high precision of the heads, it now has far wider applications. Light of various wavelengths, spot size and power can be used to effectively “print” on a whole range of photo or thermally activated substrates or coatings. Relevant sectors include labelling, packaging and patterning of electronics such as OLED displays, all of which offer multi billion pound market opportunities.
LumeJet was launched in 2010 with private angel investment and co-investment from Midven’s Early Advantage Fund. The injection of the new capital will see the company grow substantially over the next 3 years, with a forecast of over 100 new jobs being created by the end of 2014. LumeJet intends to ship 1000 machines over the next 5 years from its West Midlands site. The first machine sales will be shipped from late summer of this year.