Furthr VC has led a €750,000 investment in Donegal digital publications creator, 3D Issue. Furthr VC and the Western Development Commission both invested €375,000 in 3D Issue. The company is using the funding to add 24 new jobs by year-end 2023 and expand in existing and new markets, which will help to grow revenues from €1 million to €6 million over the next three years.
Established by Paul McNulty in 2007, 3D Issue is a technology company specialising in content experience tools for the development of digital publications. Last year, it launched Experios, a multi-level drag and drop content-building platform. Experios creates white-labelled templates for responsive, high-end publications – such as magazines, brochures, reports and handbooks – which reshape to fit the reader’s chosen device and require only one design for all devices.
By adding its company’s style guide to the platform, designers can instantly transform Experios into a design studio that enables writers and marketers to quickly and seamlessly add content themselves using company-branded templates. This allows businesses to easily ramp up their – or their clients’ – content experiences without having to invest in additional design services each time. As a result, users can cut design costs, as well as the man-hours required for those services, by as much as 98%.
An export-focused business, 3D Issue has more than 1,500 clients in more than 44 countries. It has worked with some of the world’s leading brands including Mercedes, Sony, NASA, Mensa, McGraw Hill, Haymarket and Procter & Gamble. The recent investment will enable 3D Issue to increase its presence in existing markets, while expanding into new ones. It will also support continued innovation at the company, facilitating new and existing product development.
Supporting this will be the 24 new roles in design, software development and sales and marketing. Most of the roles will be based in Donegal, as well as remotely elsewhere in Ireland, while some sales and marketing roles will be located strategically in 3D Issue’s key markets including the US and UK. The company was one of the first in Ireland to adopt a four-day working week.
The funding from Furthr VC comes from its latest fund, backed by leading Irish technology entrepreneurs and business leaders, as well as Enterprise Ireland. With an emphasis on highly scalable, export-focused software and MedTech companies, it is on-track to invest in up to 30 companies by year-end 2024.
Paul McNulty, founder and CEO, 3D Issue, said: “This is an exciting period of growth and innovation for our company and we are delighted to have the backing of Furthr VC and the Western Development Commission. We have an established base of extremely large international enterprise customers and the launch of Experios will be significant in helping us to increase our revenues through existing business, as well as new opportunities.
“Recently, we helped a publisher to reduce the design time spent on an online publication from 240 man hours to four, while reducing the cost per page from more than €4,000 to under €70. We will continue to innovate to ensure we are bringing the best service and quality to our customers.
“The team in Furthr VC has guided us on our growth journey, offering advice and helping us to identify the right candidates to fill key positions in the business. Their expertise, along with the funding, will be imperative to our company as we embark on this latest phase of our growth journey.”
Richard Watson, managing partner, Furthr VC, said: “When we established our latest fund, we set out very specific criteria for the types of companies that we were looking to back, and which we believed would deliver the best returns for our investors. As a technology company, with a high performing management team and which is experiencing significant growth in major global markets, 3D Issue fits that bill very neatly.
“With the launch of Experios, 3D issue is setting itself apart from competitors and is well-positioned to become a major player in the global digital publishing market.”
Tomás Ó Síocháin, CEO of the Western Development Commission, said: “Our €77 million investment fund has been supporting companies in the West and Northwest for twenty years. 3D Issue has demonstrated global ambition from Ireland’s Atlantic Coast and our team are delighted to support their journey as they scale up the operation and grow their staff numbers.”
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