Award winning Sydney digital printing company Carbon8 has acquired laser cutting start-up Bespoke Laser, and has already begun offering its services to existing clients.
Carbon8 director Kenneth Beck said Bespoke would keep its year-old brand identity and Crown St facilities, including two laser cutters, which enables it to offer services such as die cutting, stencilling and engraving on a wide range of materials.
He says his company used to outsource laser cutting but would now be able to offer clients more creative products such as key rings, signs and personalised mementos to complement their digital printing needs. "We can experiment as we never could before and use the same attitude we brought to printing – not just ink on paper but what can we do with other things?" he said.
"No one wants to say it, but we're well aware printing is in decline so we need to prepare our business for the changes of the next five or 10 years and do more than printing – how do we stay relevant? What more can we offer our clients?
"This is a good fit that will strengthen our position, make us more efficient and provide other revenue streams."
The young entrepreneurs who founded Bespoke Laser, Daniel Sutherland and Dylan Murray, approached Carbon8 in search of an established company to take their business to the next level with greater financial backing.
Sutherland, who will be retained by Carbon8 for at least three months after the buyout, said the pair had always planned to grow the business and then sell it and move onto other projects. "We've been butting our heads against a wall trying to sell laser cutting as a primary business when it's far easier for a bigger company to do it on the side," he said.
Beck said he is open to more acquisitions that would add value to the company and allow it to flourish in a competitive market, as normal organic growth is no longer enough to get ahead.
[Related: More Carbon8 stories]
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