RPD International has just announced its third funding round, led by 24 Haymarket, to accelerate corporate R&D with a 40-country supply chain. Designed to initiate corporate R&D programs, RPD is helping companies like Vodafone, Bacardi and Air New Zealand to develop and manufacture new products.
“These large companies are struggling to innovate at the pace smaller startups are successfully launching new products,” CEO Josh Valman, explained. “They’re working with us to develop these new products, with the vast breadth of skills at RPD, before manufacturing up to several million units in our facilities. By using RPD, the risk in launching a new product is greatly reduced – with small internal resource commitments and little required investment in manufacturing assets.”
24Haymarket led the funding round as a private investment network of experienced investors, entrepreneurs and operators focused on investing up to £5 million in equity, alongside existing shareholders and the management team.
Richard Tudor, an Investment Partner of 24 Haymarket and a board member at RPD, commented: “Josh and the team have achieved a great deal already and we are delighted to invest in RPD International. We have substantial experience of helping high-growth businesses and our expertise from our network will help realise the enormous potential for RPD”
RPD International worked with 96 customers in 2015, experiencing 450% year on year growth over the last 2 years. Working with both startups and larger firms, RPD’s supply chain is powered by a breadth of clients including small-scale manufacturing projects and time-scales.
“We have been working with the team at RPD to develop a range of smart devices,” Tom Eldridge, Product Innovation Manager at Vodafone, added. “We have a single point of contact, from concept, through to production. We no longer have to go through complex procurement processes with endless suppliers, hire large engineering teams for short contributions, or invest in manufacturing facilities ahead of confirmed product sales”
RPD has grown quickly in London and Shenzhen through 2015, with rapid expansion in global supply chain. James Price, Global Engineering Manager, has lead growth in the supply chain past 100 factories, with many more in evaluation stages across 40 countries.