Imaginatik raises £2.1 million to fund expansion and lists on London’s AIM market
LONDON, UK—December 15, 2006—Shares in Imaginatik, the innovation company, have started trading today on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM), part of the London Stock Exchange. This marks the completion of a successful round of fund raising from some of London’s leading investors, who have taken a 25% stake in the company. Imaginatik’s shares will start trading today at 7.5p, valuing the company at £8.7 million.
The £2.1 million raised will be used to fund the expansion of Imaginatik in both the UK and US, with the addition of further sales executives, marketing resources and implementation staff. This will enable Imaginatik to capitalize on the huge growth expected in the innovation market.
Imaginatik’s sales have increased 200% in the last six months, and this, the Directors of the company believe, is only the tip of the iceberg. According to IDC Corporation, the global innovation market is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 35% over the next few years.
Mark Turrell, CEO of Imaginatik, commented:
“Innovation is now acknowledged as being a key factor in achieving long-term growth. The world’s largest companies are turning to Imaginatik, the market leader in the process of innovation, to help them build an infrastructure for sustainable innovation which reaches across their entire organization. We believe our first mover advantage, strong client base of largely blue chip organizations and award-winning, well developed product line mean that we are well positioned to capitalize on the expected growth of this market.”
For further information please contact:
Boris Pluskowski, Imaginatik: +1 617 459 4223
Caroline Evans-Jones, ICIS PR: +44 207 651 8688
About Imaginatik
Imaginatik is the number one provider of Innovation Infrastructure to the world's leading companies. More than 110 clients rely on Imaginatik's software, consulting and research to enable their best-of-breed innovation activities.
Imaginatik’s software and consulting services have helped clients discover significant sources of additional revenue, as well as tangible cost savings, process improvements and increased product pipeline. Imaginatik is also committed to developing strategic solutions in the field of innovation, working with academic institutions such as the London Business School and the Cass School of Business, London, as well as leading practitioners of corporate innovation.
Background
The Innovation Market
The global innovation market is growing quickly. According to a February 2005 industry report by IDC Corporation, the market is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 35% over the next few years. A 2005 Bain & Company survey found that 86% of executives said that innovation is more important than cost reduction for long-term success, and a survey by PriceWaterhouseCoopers in March 2005 found that two-thirds of Chief Executive Officers from America’s fastest growing private companies reported that innovation is an organization-wide priority.
Innovation impacts many types of organizations – in both the private and the public sector. The European Union has for a number of years funded innovation initiatives, and most EU governments now have innovation mandates. The European Commission announced on 12 October 2005 an action plan in a bid to boost innovation in the 25-nation bloc. Its focus is on providing the best conditions for private sector innovation and research.
Idea Central
Imaginatik’s core software product is Idea Central; the software won the Basex Award for Excellence, a prestigious industry award, for being the leading Idea and Innovation package in the marketplace. In addition, Idea Central was identified by KMWorld, an industry publication, as being “a trend setting product” in September 2005 and again in September 2006.
The software may be applied to many business operations, across a variety of industries and in many cultures and countries. The market for Imaginatik’s products is therefore wide, with no requirement to restrict the sales and marketing efforts to specific industries or functions. The software is multi-lingual, configurable, can be deployed quickly and is designed to keep the need for custom modifications to a minimum.
Client Results
Clients have reported significant success as a result of their relationship with Imaginatik. For instance, Georgia Pacific deployed the Imaginatik software in 2003 and various ideas garnered from its employees successfully reduced the costs of manufacture of one component part alone by $1.2 million per annum. As another example, Grace Chemical's manufacturing division has harvested over 2,500 new ideas for improvements, yielding 76 new products and 67 distinct improvements. It estimates that their new ideas have increased revenues by as much as $3 million per annum.