LED Innovator Relume Technologies Closes $7M Financing Round

OXFORD — Relume Technologies, a manufacturer of light-emitting diode (LED) products and smart grid control systems for outdoor lighting, has closed its $7 million Series D financing round.
Farmington Hills-based Beringea, which led the round, invested $3.2 million. San Jose, Calif.-based Western Technology Investment and other existing investors comprised the remainder of the round.
“Relume has seen tremendous growth over the past year, as evidenced by recent sales in multiple municipalities, new product launches and several key additions to our engineering team,” said Crawford Lipsey, CEO for Relume. “These funds will allow us to build up our sales and manufacturing infrastructure and further expand our team.”
Relume’s LED products and lighting control systems are used in street and area lighting, commercial signage, outdoor advertising, transportation and U.S. military applications and improve a city’s operating costs, commerce and resident safety. Relume’s LED luminaries feature superior thermal management and low LED junction temperatures — key to long LED life — and enabling Relume to offer a market-leading 7-year product warranty.
“Relume is growing rapidly — it roughly doubled its revenue in 2011 — and through its innovative technology and world-class management team, Relume is poised to secure a dominant position in the outdoor LED lighting market,” said Jeff Bocan, managing director for Beringea.
“Given the company’s marquee customer base and accelerating sales traction, WTI is pleased to support Relume’s impressive ongoing growth,” said Maurice Werdegar, partner of Western Technology Investment.
Relume has installed outdoor lighting solutions in more than 1,000 outdoor facilities, producing up to a 50 percent energy savings per product. The company’s customers include Starbucks Coffee, US Cellular, McDonalds, Chase, Best Buy, and Lexus, among others. In addition, Relume has re-lit many cities across the country, including Ann Arbor; Arlington, Va.; Canton, Ohio, and West Nottingham Township, Pennsylvania.
Relume’s products are also American-made and ISO 9001:2008 certified.
Relume is a founding member of the Michigan Solid State Lighting Association, and supports the organization’s mission of ensuring that Michigan is a global leader in solid-state lighting, research and development, and manufacturing. Relume was recently recognized as one of Michigan’s 50 Companies to Watch by the Edward Lowe Foundation. For more information, visit www.relume.com.
More about Beringea, Michigan’s largest private capital company, at http://www.beringea.com/.

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Chinese bankers forming global network

One way to better understand the changes that have taken place in China as a result of its joining the World Trade Organization in 2001 is to take a look at its banking industry over the past decade.
The amount of annual outward investment abroad has been growing at an average rate of almost 50 percent, since 2003, and reached $68.8 billion worth in 2010, putting China in fifth place globally.
Mainland-based companies had $317.2 billion worth of investments in 178 countries and regions by the end of 2010.
And, as more Chinese companies go abroad, so are Chinese banks taking a closer look at international markets, and forming a global network.

Chinese banks had nearly 100 branches around the world by the end of June of this year, and had completely purchased or had shares in 16 financial organizations abroad.
Bank of China (BOC), one of China’s leading banks with the widest international reach, and greatest amount of experience, was recently listed as one of the world’s 29 most important financial organizations.
BOC’s business covered 34 countries and regions by the end of 2010 and it had nearly 1,000 offices overseas, and assets worth 2.3 trillion yuan ($361.3 billion).
In 2009, when a Chinese company acquired the mines of an Australian lead-zinc mining company, at a cost of $1.2 billion, there were hidden risks because of unpaid debts.
But BOC was on hand to provide financial assistance. It dropped its original response to put together a bundle of financing with other banks, and decided to handle the deal by itself.
The service it provided was a “firewall” that contained the risks and provided the security that the company needed.
BOC has said that it believes that Chinese companies grow in the global market is one way to improve its international services.
And, by designing various financial products, it has been able to help Chinese companies deal with international policies and regulations as well as foreign exchange.


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