LED lighting company Lumenpulse to triple headcount to 75 in Boston
2014-08-28

LED lighting firm Lumenpulse Inc. expects to grow its Boston headcount to 75 within five years, up from 25 currently, and plans to move to a larger space in the city within a year, according to the company's CTO.

The Canadian company has been growing swiftly since it made its first acquisition last month and ramped up product development and sales and marketing efforts in 2010 in Boston, where it decided to locate its U.S. headquarters.

Boston is home to Lumenpulse's engineering, design and innovation team and also its inside sales, customer service and technical sales support team, said the company's senior vice president and chief technology officer Greg Campbell.

The company is currently operating out of about 6,600 square feet of space in an office in the Fort Point neighborhood of Boston and is looking for a new office in Boston that's double the square footage. Plans are for the company to move into a new office within the next year, Campbell said.

Lumenpulse is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: LMP) and its 2014 revenue was $62.2 million for the fiscal year ending on April 30.

While Campbell did not disclose revenue estimates for 2015, he said the company expects to "outgrow the market year-over-year." The LED market's revenue has been growing at a clip of about 30 percent annually, he said, and Lumenpulse expects to exceed that percentage.

In July, the company closed its first acquisition — of United Kingdom-based Projection Lighting Ltd., a LED lighting manufacturer for retail, display and architectural applications. The cost of the acquisition was $30.4 million and was paid in cash.

LED lighting firm Lumenpulse Inc. expects to grow its Boston headcount to 75 within five years, up from 25 currently, and plans to move to a larger space in the city within a year, according to the company's CTO.

The Canadian company has been growing swiftly since it made its first acquisition last month and ramped up product development and sales and marketing efforts in 2010 in Boston, where it decided to locate its U.S. headquarters.

Boston is home to Lumenpulse's engineering, design and innovation team and also its inside sales, customer service and technical sales support team, said the company's senior vice president and chief technology officer Greg Campbell.

The company is currently operating out of about 6,600 square feet of space in an office in the Fort Point neighborhood of Boston and is looking for a new office in Boston that's double the square footage. Plans are for the company to move into a new office within the next year, Campbell said.

Lumenpulse is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: LMP) and its 2014 revenue was $62.2 million for the fiscal year ending on April 30.

While Campbell did not disclose revenue estimates for 2015, he said the company expects to "outgrow the market year-over-year." The LED market's revenue has been growing at a clip of about 30 percent annually, he said, and Lumenpulse expects to exceed that percentage.

In July, the company closed its first acquisition — of United Kingdom-based Projection Lighting Ltd., a LED lighting manufacturer for retail, display and architectural applications. The cost of the acquisition was $30.4 million and was paid in cash.

Lumenpulse is geared toward lighting designers and architects who are working on construction projects and need LED lights and lighting technology to create specific lighting environments.

Lumenpulse recently helped modernize the lighting system in a wing of the National Archives Museum in Washington DC where the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights are housed.

The company is also working on developing lighting solutions at the Marriott Residence Inn hotel on Congress Street in Boston and has done lighting projects for the New England Aquarium, Revere Hotel and the Rose Kennedy Greenway, among others.

Last year, the company secured its core U.S. patent for LED-dimming technology aimed at retrofitting high-end office buildings.

Lumenpulse's roots in Massachusetts began in Walpole, where the company had two employees before moving to Boston about four years ago.

"There's a really rich history in lighting in general here," Campbell said in an interview.

There are several lighting firms in the Boston area including Boston-based Digital Lumens and Osram Sylvania, which recently announced it's moving its headquarters from Danvers to Wilmington