Departing CEO Staffan Hillberg:
"Future looks bright for Heliospectra"
"Heliospectra continues to develop well. Turnover increased by 75% from 2015 to 2016 while there was an increase in marketing efforts and strategic product development continued. The company’s strategy to focus on three segments – agtech companies/institutions/universities, greenhouses/indoor cultivation and medicinal plants – has clearly been successful. All segments are growing strongly and Heliospectra has gained a very firm foothold in each market segment with key reference customers. Market factors are also favouring the company with increased urbanisation, demands for better and more nutritious food, significant climate change, increased automation and the increasing development of medicinal plants. The company made major investments in marketing during the year, and we expect this to have positive effects during 2017.
"As departing CEO, I can look back on amazing developments over the past seven years. I started as a part-time consultant in 2010, hired by the main owners to evaluate the market, technology and the company’s position. Even then we could confirm that Heliospectra possessed amazing competence, and with in-depth knowledge of how plants function we have learned how different kinds of lighting levels can affect plants in order to optimise taste, content, form, quality and life span, while at the same time you can replace old kinds of lamps and save large amounts of energy. Furthermore, the fact that we were working on something that was important for mankind became clearer still, as we then noted changes in the weather that were creating problems for growers.
"From the company’s beginnings in 2006 there was a vision of a hi-tech cultivation system that combined adjustable lamps with sensors and software. This formed the basis of the company’s very first patent, which was submitted in 2008 and has now been approved virtually all over the world. The original patent was then supplemented and there is now a full patent portfolio to protect Heliospectra’s technology. The company has purposefully developed the system and has now finally reached a technological milestone, in February 2017 we held our first seminar on DLI (Daily Light Integral), in which we showed how we can automatically maintain desired light levels in the greenhouse by using sensors and software to control our lamps. With this we can connect our weather forecasts and energy prices in order to optimise energy consumption and thus bring energy savings to the system itself in addition to the direct savings generated by our lamps. The market has already highlighted the system with articles and presentations online.
"Heliospectra’s position in the market and growth potential has enabled us to attract a very competent CEO who will take the company forwards. It feels reassuring for me to hand over the helm to Ali Ahmadian, and it will be exciting to monitor future developments. Ali has a background as a successful entrepreneur, after which he spent much of his life in business development, sales and international marketing at Tetra Pak. All in all, this is an ideal combination to take Heliospectra on to new successes.
"For me personally, it has been an honour to take Heliospectra to this position, and I would like to thank everyone who has been with us on the journey and supported us, but above all my employees who have done the work. The future looks bright for the company and for plants."
The full report can be downloaded here.