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High-growth Welsh 3D printing company expands with move to Cardiff

Press release 05 April 2024

Large-scale 3D printing company, Lunia 3D, formerly based in Cowbridge, has upsized and moved its offices to Cardiff after a strong first four years in business.

The business was founded by childhood friends, Ken Pearce and Yousef Ahmed, both 26 and from Newport. The pair reunited after a decade to combine their skills and launch the business in 2020, transforming what was a garden shed hobby to a successful 3D printing firm within the space of 12 months.

The pair were supported initially by a £2,000 Start Up Loan from the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme to invest in their first commercial 3D printer, followed by an additional £12,000 loan, also provided by the Start Up Loans programme. Since then, Lunia 3D has cemented itself as a key player within the nascent, high-growth 3D printing sector and was chosen to represent small businesses in Wales as a Start Up Loans Ambassador because of the business’ potential.

The move to a bigger site in Cardiff has enabled Lunia 3D to upscale its printing capacity even further, replacing older machines with more efficient models. Ken and Yousef have also invested in their biggest printer yet, allowing them to take on more large-scale commissions which they previously had to create via a jigsaw method or outsource to external companies.

In recent years Lunia 3D has attracted a range of commissions; from lifesaving military equipment for the Ministry of Defence; to a full-scale car prototype for self-driving testing, and a large bespoke shopfront display for a high-end jeweller in Mayfair, London.

In the short time they’ve been in Cardiff, the firm has already received an influx of new business, something Ken and Yousef put down to their new, more central location.

We always knew we would eventually need more space to grow the business, but it happened sooner than we’d anticipated. Moving wasn’t something we had seriously considered until we realised we were at maximum capacity at our Cowbridge site. And being in Cardiff not only gives us more space, but makes us more accessible as a business.

Being able to upscale so soon into our business journey is something we’re hugely proud of. Looking back on how far we’ve come, starting with our two Start Up Loans, which were the driving force behind getting our business off the ground, to funding this move is something we’re really pleased to have achieved.

Yousef Ahmed Co-founder, Lunia 3D

As part of its growth, Lunia 3D now employs an additional two people in the team alongside Ken and Yousef. Safwan Iqbal is the new sales and customer relations officer and James Bristow is the education lead.

Over the last few years, Lunia 3D has been running workshops for both school children and adults, but they’ve been working hard to develop this arm of the business further, recently running a class for a group of teenagers with autism, as well as a group of over 50s.

Ken and Yousef have displayed such fantastic drive and ambition, and they should be proud of how much growth they’ve achieved in just four years in business, not to mention this recent move into Cardiff.

The Start Up Loans programme exists to support entrepreneurs with big ideas but who lack the initial investment capital. It’s been a pleasure to follow Lunia 3D’s journey over the last couple of years and we hope they continue to flourish in their new location.

Jessica Phillips-Harris Senior Manager for Wales at British Business Bank

British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme provides government backed personal loans of up to £25,000 per individual, up to a maximum of £100,000 per business. In addition to finance, successful applicants can receive free mentoring, as well as access to online resources 24/7.

Further Information

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Notes to editors

About Start-Up Loans

The Start Up Loans programme provides personal loans for business purposes of up to £25,000 at a 6% fixed interest rate per annum and offers free dedicated mentoring and support to each business.

The primary aim of the Start Up Loans programme is to ensure that viable start-ups and early-stage businesses have access to the finance and support they need in order to thrive. A network of Business Support Partner organisations supports applicants in all regions and industries throughout the UK. The Start Up Loans programme is not designed to generate a commercial profit. Capital payments together with the interest are recycled to help meet borrowers’ increasing demands for finance.

Free guides on a range of subjects related to starting a business and recent media press releases are available on the Start Up Loans website.

The funding for the Start Up Loans programme is provided by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). A development bank wholly government-owned by DBT, the British Business Bank plc is not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The British Business Bank and its subsidiary entities are not banking institutions and do not operate as such.

British Business Bank makes finance markets for smaller businesses work better, helping the sector to prosper, to grow and to build economic activity.

Key Statistics

  1. Since its inception in 2012, the Start Up Loans programme has delivered over 105,000 loans, providing more than £1bn of funding.
  2. In the financial year 2022/23, the programme provided 9,549 loans with a total value of approximately £120m.
  3. The economic benefits of the Start Up Loans programme are almost six (5.7) times its economic costs.
  4. At Spending Review 2021, the Chancellor announced resources to provide 33,000 Start Up Loans over next three years.

Aside from the return-on-investment numbers these statistics are gross estimates and based on Start Up Loans’ CRM along with externally commissioned research undertaken by SQW Ltd, with support from BMG Research.

Since 2012, 31% of loans went to people formerly unemployed or economically inactive. 40% of loan recipients were women and 20% were from ethnic minority groups (not including white minorities).

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