Chili Publish has raised €2.55 million through a Series A placing of shares with three of the key tech funders in Belgium.
The company which has 250 customers for its Chili Publisher online editing application, will use the investment to fund additional developers, sales and marketing staff. Over the next couple of years this will include additional pre sales support people in its Singapore and New York offices, says COO Bram Verniest.
It will also accelerate completion of Rendro, its PDF viewer that checks the quality of a PDF regardless of the viewing device. This opens the way for iPads and smart phones to be used to proof PDFs for print and is a technology that has attracted a great deal of interest since being announced last year. “We can render 80-90% of PDFs already, so have a little to finish and we need to get it running at speed,” he says. “We need more people to help sort that out.”
Among the backers is Volta Ventures, the vehicle for investor Michel Akkermans. He has a reputation for helping start up business grow to the next level. “Our goal is to help the company mature to their full potential and we hope that our tech insights and market experience will prove valuable assets.”
Akkermans will join the board of the business. “The solutions come with an open API, meaning they can be integrated on just about any company that spots the added value of the Chili Publish solutions. This is an interesting business model that will allow Chili Publish to extend even beyond its roots in the graphic arts sector.”
Users are those wanting to offer more than a purely templated web to print system as the technology offers online editing with the functionality of InDesign. Hosts can lock off areas of the file to protect a brand message or image and allow consumers to personalise a corrugated beer case, for example, with a birthday message or other greeting. A finished box or brochure can be viewed as a 3D object.
The software has a simple API to enable swift integration with other applications. In the UK this has included Tharstern MIS.
As well as Volta, the company has received backing from Group MC and Pamica. Nevertheless the founding directors retain overall control. CEO Kevin Goeminne says: “We’ve established quite an exponential growth. In six years we have serviced no less than 250 customers in over 25 countries in markets like commercial print and packaging, including brand owners and agencies. And yet more is to be done. We know this investment will further spur the opportunities for online editing out there.”
This will include direct sales channels and opening opportunities in new countries, says Verniest. “The last few weeks have been hectic with completing the fund raising, closing the end of year and running the business,” he says. With a partner programme manager targeted as one of the first positions to fill, Verniest can at least look forward to a little less stress.
Chili Publish has received angel investment in a first round of fund raising from three of the leading tech investors in Belgium. The funds will allow the company to accelerate growth and move to the next phase of development it says.
