NE Invests in OpenFactory as Second CVC Deal
The investment signals NE's strategy to embed print-on-demand capabilities into its commerce infrastructure, reducing barriers for small sellers to produce branded goods.
Reporting from 1 sources: ASCII.jp.
NE Corporation has invested in OpenFactory, the operator of the print-on-demand platform Printio, as the second investment in its corporate venture capital business. The investment aims to strengthen the commerce ecosystem by enabling e-commerce operators to create and sell products without inventory risk, with Printio already integrated into NE's NextEngine platform.
NE Corporation announced on June 25 that it has invested in OpenFactory, the startup behind the print-on-demand platform Printio, as the second deal in its corporate venture capital program. The investment, executed as a third-party allotment of Series B preferred shares totaling 20 million yen, was made on June 24.
Printio is already system-integrated with NE's NextEngine platform, allowing the roughly 6,700 companies using NextEngine to develop and sell their own products without holding inventory. OpenFactory's on-demand production model makes items one by one after receiving an order, eliminating the mass-production and mass-disposal problems of traditional printing and apparel manufacturing.
NE cited the expansion of its co-creation ecosystem and the strengthening of its value chain as reasons for the investment. The print-on-demand market is projected to reach 4.728 trillion yen globally by 2030, and OpenFactory's recent sales growth rate is estimated at 45.2% annually.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.