Archipelago wraps up £1.5m for industrial coatings initiative

Archipelago Technology Group has clinched scale-up funding for its ongoing commercialisation drive.

Based at St John’s Innovation Centre in Cambridge, Archipelago is the developer of PowerdropTM, a novel technology for the efficient application of industrial coatings in particular for the packaging industry.

Turquoise, a UK merchant bank specialising in energy, environment and efficiency, has announced an investment by Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 (LCIF2) in the company.

This forms part of a capital raising round of nearly £1.5 million comprising both equity and an Innovate UK grant provided under the Future Economy Programme.

Co-investors included members of the management team, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Business Growth Company and several angel backers.

Ian Thomas, managing director at Turquoise, commented: “There is an ever-stronger move to replace plastic packaging with lower-carbon, recyclable materials and Archipelago’s Powerdrop coating system helps to facilitate the switch to fibre-based packaging. 

“Moreover, it has applications in a range of other industries to reduce the significant levels of waste arising from traditional methods of applying coatings.”

Guy Newcombe, Archipelago co-founder and CEO added: “Archipelago is delighted to have received the backing of the Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2, Turquoise Capital, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Business Growth Company, Innovate UK and selected angel investors in this sizeable funding round.

“This funding will power Archipelago’s next stage of growth and in particular its scale up of Powerdrop industrial coating systems to enable the large-scale transition from plastic packaging to sustainable paper packaging.”

• LCIF2 is funded by European Regional Development Fund, with the UK’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities as managing authority.