Lighting technology company mLED has announced the appointment of a new chief executive whilst simultaneously closing its third funding round at £628k ($980k).
The Strathclyde University spin-out named Seonaidh MacDonald, formerly of IBM and Babcock International, as its chief executive. Incumbent chief executive and mLED founder Jim Bonar will give up his post to take on the new position of chief technical officer.
Nick Kuenssberg, mLED chairman, said: “Jim has been terrific but he is a technology guy and we were increasingly asking him to do everything from developing the technology to sort out deals and meet customers. We have been very fortunate to get Seonaidh who is a pretty phenomenal hire for a company of our size.”
The company has now raised £1.16m in venture backing. The latest round included £100k form Strathclyde University, the mLED board, and existing backers. In June last year, Braveheart Investment Group and the Scottish Co-Investment Fund led a £378k round. Both investors also backed a seed round in 2010, worth £150k.
The latest round will be used in all areas of the firm, including product development and increasing the company’s headcount. It will also be used to carry the firm over to a further, larger funding round, pencilled in for next year.
