PragmatIC, a world leader in flexible electronics, has secured £18 million of funding including a strategic investment from Avery Dennison, a Fortune 500 company with leading global positions in labelling and packaging materials as well as radio frequency identification (RFID). Avery Dennison joins existing shareholders Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC) and ARM, who also participated in the round.
This investment in PragmatIC is expected to accelerate the mass deployment of intelligent packaging, with Avery Dennison leveraging the potential of PragmatIC’s flexible integrated circuits (flexICs) in its inlays portfolio.
“Avery Dennison works with more than 10,000 converters, brand owners and retailers worldwide, making them an ideal supply chain partner to deliver solutions based on our unique technology,” said Scott White, Chief Executive Officer, PragmatIC.
“We’re excited about this collaboration with PragmatIC, which presents a promising opportunity to build on our high volume RFID inlay manufacturing capabilities,” added Francisco Melo, Vice President and General Manager, Global RFID, Avery Dennison. “With PragmatIC’s technology, there is the potential to extend the use of unique item-level digital identities to improve consumer experiences in a number of new segments, such as fast-moving consumer goods.”
The funding round supports PragmatIC’s development and commercialisation of its FlexLogIC “fab-in-a-box” equipment. This modular system facilitates fully automated, high throughput production of flexICs, and is designed to fit naturally into the supply chain for a wide variety of intelligent packaging solutions.
“This funding allows PragmatIC to deliver into the market a tool for producing flexible integrated circuits at an unprecedentedly low unit price point,” said Victor Christou, CEO of Cambridge Innovation Capital. “We believe this is an important step forward to commercially affordable smart packaging.”
“We appreciate the confidence in our business reflected by this investment from Avery Dennison, as well as continued strong backing from CIC and ARM,” concluded Scott White. “The funding provides full support for our next stage of evolution, moving from pilot scale production to enable volume manufacturing with the FlexLogIC equipment.”
About PragmatIC Printing Ltd
PragmatIC is a world leader in ultra low cost flexible electronics, enabling the potential for trillions of “smart objects” that can sense and communicate with their environment. PragmatIC’s unique technology platform enables integrated circuits thinner than a human hair that can be easily embedded in any surface, introducing interactivity into a wide range of everyday items. At a fraction of the price of conventional silicon chips, PragmatIC’s products enable a vast range of new applications: from intelligent packaging of fast-moving consumer goods, to wireless traceability of documents for security and identification. PragmatIC is headquartered in Cambridge, England and has a production facility based at the National Centre for Printable Electronics in Sedgefield. PragmatIC’s growing customer base includes large multi-national customers across a number of sectors, including consumer goods, packaging, security printing and mainstream electronics.
For more information: pr@pragmaticprinting.com or www.pragmaticprinting.com
About Avery Dennison
Avery Dennison (NYSE: AVY) is a global leader in labelling and packaging materials and solutions. The company’s applications and technologies are an integral part of products used in every major market and industry. With operations in more than 50 countries and more than 25,000 employees worldwide, Avery Dennison serves customers with insights and innovations that help make brands more inspiring and the world more intelligent. Headquartered in Glendale, California, the company reported sales of $6.0 billion in 2015.
For more information: www.averydennison.com
About Cambridge Innovation Capital
Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC) invests in intellectual property rich companies in the Cambridge Cluster, combining a unique relationship with the University of Cambridge with deep financial and industry links to the area. The company strives to build leading businesses using a patient investment strategy. CIC is led by an experienced investment team, an outstanding board and advisory panel of leading scientists and entrepreneurs, backed by long term institutional and strategic investors. CIC has an unrivalled appreciation for world-leading scientific development given its position within the Cambridge Cluster. The company is committed to ensuring that its investment partners can build leading businesses from brilliant technologies – with the support of some of the most influential figures in the sector.
For further information, including details of other CIC portfolio companies, see www.cicplc.co.uk
Fortune 500 is a registered trademark of Time, Inc. Other trademarks or trade names used herein are the property of their respective owners and may be used for identification purposes.
_____________________________________________