Cash will enable Bloemteknik to develop its autonomous lighting platform
Cardiff-based LED lighting specialist Bloemteknik has secured an Innovate UK-supported R&D project worth £707,000 through the Investor Partnership Programme to support the continued development of its autonomous lighting platform, GreenFingers.
Founded in 2023 by two former senior leaders from global innovation and technology company GE, Bloem has scaled to become an established supplier of horticultural lighting, with more than 25,000 LED fixtures deployed across multiple international markets.
Its modular lighting systems are tailored to specific crop types and growing environments, enabling growers to improve efficiency, boost productivity, and achieve consistent outcomes.
The Innovate UK funding will support further advancements of GreenFingers, Bloem’s self-optimising lighting control platform. GreenFingers continuously analyses canopy-level plant and environmental data to generate productivity and energy-efficiency insights, which are applied autonomously through real-time LED control actions.
The result is consistent daily light integral (DLI), reduced energy waste, and a more balanced cultivation environment, without manual grower intervention, the company explained.
The Innovate UK award follows a £2.5mn equity investment into Bloem by regional private equity and infrastructure investment manager Foresight Group, made through the British Business Bank’s Investment Fund for Wales (IFW) and Foresight’s Growth VCTs.
IFW was launched in November 2023 to increase access to early-stage finance for SMEs across Wales, with Foresight appointed to manage equity investments of up to £5mn.
Bloem said that together, the Innovate UK funding and Foresight investment have enabled it to accelerate product development, expand testing and validation programmes, and bring GreenFingers to commercial readiness at pace. The combined support positions the company to scale operations, strengthen delivery capacity, and expand into new international markets, it added.
James Fleet, CEO of Bloem, said: “The Innovate UK funding is a major milestone for Bloem and a strong validation of the technology we’re building. It allows us to push GreenFingers further – deepening the intelligence of the platform and delivering even greater value to growers. Combined with Foresight’s backing, it has enabled us to move faster from innovation to real-world impact.”
