LumeJet secures investment for imaging technology

LumeJet, a Coventry, UK-based technology developer, has raised GBP £1.87 million in a major funding round. The new investment will be used to develop and commercialize LumeJet’s high quality imaging technology and brings the total investment in the company to more than £4.5m.

LumeJet has developed a new enabling imaging technology that can provide high precision ‘printed’ products for a variety of specialist markets and will launch an LED-based printer product later this year.

The LumeJet technology has been designed to exploit the continuous tone quality of Silver Halide (AgX) media and its extended color gamut (larger than CMYK inks). This produces vibrant, smooth and color accurate images. It also exploits the inherent micron-sized (1/1000th mm) grain resolution of the media for ultra sharp text and graphics.

While the technology was originally developed to work on photographic (AgX) media, with the advent of modern chemical design combined with the 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 labeling, packaging and patterning of electronics such as OLED displays.

LumeJet was launched in 2010 with private 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 three years, with a forecast of over 100 new jobs being created by the end of 2014. LumeJet intends to ship 1,000 machines over the next five years from its West Midlands site.

Christopher McCann, chairman of LumeJet, said: ‘Completing this fund raising in the current climate is a major milestone for the company and a tremendous vote of confidence in our management team led by Paul Anson.’

Midven originally introduced Paul Anson to LumeJet as the investor director before being appointed CEO. Paul Anson said: ‘Attracting investment to high value manufacturing propositions can be difficult, but our new and existing Angel investors see potential of the LumeJet technology. Now we can get on and deliver a digital printing system that will change the market completely for some sectors.’