Great to see D’Arcy Polychrome beating nine other international finalists and 389 entrants to win one of the Grand Awards at the 2013 StartmeupHK awards in Hong Kong.
The company, which has developed drikolor – an innovative process to deliver colour through dry granulated pigments that are mixed into base paints, concrete and plaster – was the only New Zealand finalist in the competition. The competition hosted by Invest Hong Kong, which aims to raise awareness of Hong Kong’s potential as a leading hub of entrepreneurship and innovation.
D’Arcy Polychrome joined two other winners to receive prizes worth HK$2 million in the form of professional services and work space for one year, provided by corporate sponsors. The package is designed to provide a launching pad into Asia and beyond.
The goal of founder and CEO Rachel Lacy is to create a premium Hong Kong designer brand, with local designers and architects, using the company’s tinting system, which can then be exported across Asia.
The Auckland-based company is backed by Pacific Channel, the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund and private investors. It works closely with Callaghan Innovation to refine and produce its revolutionary dry, easily dispersible, polychromatic colour granules used for colouring building materials such as paints, concrete and plaster.
Its technology is seen as a breakthrough because it achieves specific colouring at point of sale or use in an easy, consistent and cost effective way, allowing its products to be sold anywhere in the world.
D’Arcy Polychrome has forged a partnership with Sto, a Germany-based building systems company with a global turnover of more than €1 billion, to stock drikolor in its Australasian warehouses and to promote and sell the product.
D’Arcy Polychrome seeks corporate customers to advance commercialisation of its innovative processes.
