LumeJet has announced that it aims to be the first crowdfunded digital printing machine and print head manufacturer and is inviting print industry members to ‘come on in’. The company has launched on the Crowdbnk (www.crowdbnk.com) platform and is looking for an investment of £2m which will give the new investors a 20% equity. Members of the public, angel investors and anybody from the print industry can register to become an investor.
The young company – known for offering the best print quality available, according to Professor Emeritus Frank Romano and the London School of Photography – is less well known for the other applications its photonic imaging technology can deliver. Paul Anson, Lumejet’s CEO explains: “Our ultra-high quality range of printers is a key part of our business, but we are also working on a printhead offering 50 times more output, have proven our UV printhead in the lab for digital lithographic applications and are investigating new photosensitive coating technologies for volume applications.
“Whilst we will always protect client and partner confidentiality, even from shareholders, we have a list, as long as your arm, of major names in the industry that are in dialogue or working with us on a wide range of breakthrough printing applications. The applications include a variety of projects such as volume on-demand inkless packaging printing and the manufacturing of printed electronic components such as flexible displays, plastic logic components and low cost sensors.”
Anson, who was also a co-founder at Inca Digital Printers, continues: “I spend a lot of my time trying to explain to investors, normally involved in internet businesses, biotech and software, that the print industry is massive, diverse, and full of opportunity all over the globe. Then it occurred to me – the people that know this already are in the print industry and LumeJet’s culture is one of openness and collaboration. Let’s let everybody and anybody be a part of building a new print technology business financially as well as commercially.”
LumeJet has raised around £8m to date, mostly from private individuals and publicly-backed institutions. It has recently won its first industry award and this year it has presented at Buckingham Palace and No 10 Downing Street, when it was selected as one of the 10 most promising digital companies in Britain. It was awarded Syndicate Deal of the Year in 2012 by the UK Business Angel Association. It welcomes investors interested in investing anything from £5k to £500k in its current £2m round, and aims to make new offers in 2015 to shareholders that get involved now.
Founder, Dr Trevor Elworthy, concludes: “To think big, you have to think differently these days. We have massive ambitions for our company and that takes cash – and who better to offer investment returns to than the very industry that has supported us thus far. This funding round – our terrific S200 product – it is all just the start of our plans and we are offering the people of print the chance to be owners and enablers of something massive and exciting, on the same terms as current investors. We think differently, unconstrained by the shackles of big corporation, never following the herd – we are just warming up!”
