DFJ Esprit et al. back ZBD

Ellie Pullen
17 October 2013

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UK-based electronic shelf labelling (ESL) developer ZBD Solutions has secured $25m in fresh capital from a consortium of existing investors and US listed firm Zebra Technologies Corporation.

The two-part funding round saw existing investors DFJ Esprit, Lansdowne Partners, TTP Venture Managers and Trillium International provide financing to the company in August, followed by the strategic investment from Zebra that brought the total amount raised to $25m.

Previous funding
ZBD has been the recipient of a high number of funding rounds, according to unquote" data. The company first received a £1.5m early-stage capital injection in July 2000 from DFJ Esprit, Dow Venture Capital and TTP. This was followed in September 2001 by a £2m investment from the same investors as well as UK defence technology company QinetiQ Ventures.

In August 2002, DFJ Esprit, Dow Venture and TTP all took part in a £2.5m funding round for ZBD. The three investors then supplied a further £2.7m in funding alongside QinetiQ in February 2006.

This was followed a few months later in August 2006 by a £2.86m funding round from the four previous investors. The following March, the four investors were joined by new backer Lansdowne in ZBD's sixth funding round, which saw the company secure $20m in new capital.

The company's most recent funding round took place in March 2011. DFJ Esprit, Dow Venture and TTP invested $36m in ZBD alongside new backers Cody Gate Ventures and Coller Capital.

Company
ZBD was founded in 2000 as a spinout from QinetiQ. The company is headquartered in Ascot, Berkshire with a technology centre in Malvern, Worcestershire, and additional offices in Berlin and Paris. ZBD recorded turnover of £12.6m in the 2011/2012 financial year. The company employs 45 staff.

The company develops ESL products for retailers – also known as "e-paper" – that only require a small amount of power when the display is being changed; otherwise, the displays require no battery power to retain their images. The electronic shelf labels are to designed to allow retailers to quickly adjust prices and product promotions, which in turn reduces operational costs and product wastage.

ZBD's ESL solution is used across 18 retail sectors in 29 countries. The company claims that, to date, more than 5 million of ZBD's LCD displays have been implemented.

People
Andrew Dark is the CEO of ZBD, while Anders Gustafsson is the CEO of Zebra. Richard Marsh is a partner at DFJ Esprit and manages the firm's investment in ZBD.