HITECH electronics company Pelikon has secured an additional pounds 3.2m of venture capital investment.<\/p>\n
It is the third round of funding the Caerphillybased business has secured since it was founded in 2000, and brings the total to more than pounds 9.2m.<\/p>\n
Pelikon, which is a world leader in the development of display systems for everything from remote controls to mobile phones and washing machines, expects to enjoy a turnover of pounds 100m within the next five years.<\/p>\n
The company said the latest funding would be invested in new machinery and ongoing research and development.<\/p>\n
The funding has been secured from a syndicate of investors led by Advent Venture Partners and including Cardiffbased Wales Fund Managers, acting on behalf of the Welsh Development Agency’s Finance Wales business support bank.<\/p>\n
Additional funding has come from Gartmore and individual investment from Pelikon founder Dr Hans Wagner, and the company’s chief executive Mike Powell.<\/p>\n
Wales Fund Managers contributed pounds 650,000.<\/p>\n
Owen Sennitt, investment director for Wales Fund Managers, said, “Pelikon is rapidly establishing itself as a hitech success story for Wales.<\/p>\n
“Solid investment opportunities for venture capital don’t present themselves every day and Pelikon represents a company at the leading edge of technology, with an impressive product pipeline and huge market potential, particularly in overseas arenas.”<\/p>\n
Simon O’Sullivan, Pelikon’s financial director said the company was delighted to have successfully completed its latest funding round.<\/p>\n
He said, “Added to our existing income stream, these new funds will contribute to the expansion of our Caerphilly manufacturing facility and enable us to move from a sheetfed batch process to a continuous web production system, and meet the growing demand for our new displays.”<\/p>\n
Pelikon is leading the way in the development of electro luminescence (EL) light displays.<\/p>\n
EL involves passing a low voltage current though zinc sulphide crystals, making them glow.<\/p>\n
Cold and nontoxic strips of flexible EL material can be produced less than a millimetre thick and up to any practical length.<\/p>\n
You simply press a button on your remote or phone and the EL strip lights up, requiring just a trickle of energy from the ba t t ery.<\/p>\n
The company, which now employs 60 people, does all its manufacturing in Caerphilly, with research and development being undertaken at its sister base in Cambridge.<\/p>\n
Chris Barnardo, sales and marketing manager at Pelikon, said, “We will be investing pounds 1.5m in new machinery in Caerphilly for our extremely rapid volume ramp.<\/p>\n
“Right now the overall plan for the company is to stay privately owned and based at the two locations.”<\/p>\n
Dave Cheeseman, who led the Advent Venture Partners team, said they had been consistent supporters of Pelikon since its earliest days.<\/p>\n
He said, “It is a very exciting company at the forefront of EL technology and product development.<\/p>\n
By staying close to its customers and continually pushing the boundaries of EL technology the company has made outstanding progress in the face of a protracted economic downturn.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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