June 2014
www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz
BUILDNZ | DESIGNEX CANTERBURY Female-led company gets ready to manufacture locally drikolor® Founding Director, Rachel Lacy, wants to change the way the world colours paint, and she’s well on the way with the company recently completing one of the fastest investment rounds in recent times. In just 18 months drikolor has transformed from a start-up with a disruptive technology, to one that has 10 employees, global partners, and a New Zealand-based commercial manufacturing facility readying to open.
turnover premium paint company, and will be selling Sto paints throughout Australasia.
The latest capital raising has accelerated the company’s growth to help achieve these milestones.
subscribed. Arc Angels has a fantastic network of investors and we obviously hit the right note with them.”
“Paint companies understand drikolor’s potential. The current system of using liquid colourants and a tinting wheel is complex, noisy, messy and unreliable. It also requires capital expenditure, trained staff and large retail space with customers experiencing lengthy waiting times for inevitable mistints. Our solution eliminates these problems, while enabling new channels to enter the decorative paint market, which is worth US$50billion globally.”
It was backed by past investors who reinvested and a member of Arc Angels, a new New Zealand angel investment organisation that mobilises investment in female-managed business.
Arc Angels Executive Director, Alex Mercer, said part of drikolor’s appeal is because it is managed and designed by a woman who has tremendous experience in the paint industry.
Rachel Lacy says drikolor looked to raise $750,000 in this latest round and understands it to be one of the fastest capital raisings in recent times.
“The fact that drikolor a new product with few competitors, and are manufacturing locally with enormous potential offshore, all help make it a compelling business to invest in.”
“We were thrilled when we closed the round after ten days, at 133% over
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The innovative process proprietary to drikolor delivers colour in a dry, granulated form that can be stirred into paint. Rachel Lacy says it’s as simple as stirring sugar into coffee. “By simply changing the form of a product you can completely change the way you can sell it, who you sell it to, and how it’s distributed. It’s a world first that lets new retailers get into the paint business, but best of all, anyone can use it.” Global partners already secured include Les Couleurs Suisse AG, through which drikolor has the exclusive New Zealand and Australian rights to sell colours from the Les Corbusier Colour Range, recognized worldwide by architects as the pinnacle in colour design. The company also attracted the attention of Sto, a billion-euro
Rachel Lacy
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