IKEA GreenTech, an IKEA Group venture capital company, has invested in Design LED Products Ltd, a Scottish company with a unique technology for a new generation of lighting products using energy-efficient “light tiles” — LEDs embedded into clear resins and films. The tiles are unique as they are extremely thin, flexible and low cost and can be seamlessly joined together in an array of designs.
The investment will support the delivery of the IKEA’s People & Planet Positive sustainability strategy, which includes goals to enable customers to save energy and live more sustainably at home.
“This technology opens up fantastic possibilities for innovative designs using energy-efficient LEDs. The partnership is a clear strategic fit for IKEA and our goal to make living sustainably affordable and attractive for millions of people,” says Christian Ehrenborg, Managing Director of IKEA GreenTech AB.
LEDs use 85 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs and last 20 times longer — IKEA’s recent “Wonderful Everyday” campaign was designed to highlight the technology’s benefits to their consumers. The company has said it will switch its entire lighting range to the technology by September 2015.
The new investment will enable Design LED to expand its business and to increase its offer of products that can be used in lighting designs for the home.
“This strategic investment allows Design LED to significantly accelerate plans to deliver highly differentiated products to an international market desperate to conserve energy, and hungry for exciting new form factors in LED lighting,” says Stuart Bain, CEO of Design LED Products Ltd.