Company Spotlight: Printcb

This quarter’s “Company Spotlight” highlights PrintCB, an Israeli company that YBI is working closely with via its new partnership with “The Junction”, one of the premier accelerator/venture capital programs in Tel-Aviv.  PrintCB is actively looking to relocate to the Mahoning Valley and join YBI as a portfolio company.  Though not currently a fit for VGV because of its location, it is certainly on VGV’s radar screen as a future opportunity.

​The CEO, Sagi Daren graduated from the Technion University (Israel’s MIT) with a Masters in Materials Engineering. After graduation, Sagi worked with several semi-conductor startups, primarily in Research & Development roles.  Next, Sagi joined HP Indigo, a leader in digital printing, where he spent five years in both engineering and sales and marketing positions. During that time, Sagi also pursued his MBA at Tel-Aviv University. This enabled him to combine his passion for working in the global business environment along with his technical background. 
 
PrintCB, is developing the next generation of conductive inks for Printed Electronics. Their technology is designed to replace silver, the main conductive ink used today, with copper, a material 100 times cheaper. This has huge promise for one of today’s fastest growing markets, Printed Electronics. The manufacturing costs of flexible electronics, sensors for smart-cars and houses, displays and solar panels, and much more can be dramatically reduced by their disruptive technology. PrintCB has three founders, all with deep technology backgrounds, operating in one of the most vibrant areas for printing technology development on earth.  Israel has been referred to as “the Mecca” of 3D printing.  
 
Sagi took some time to update VGV on the progress it’s made since connecting to YBI in January of 2017:
 
What are some current activities of the company?
 “The company’s main objectives for the future are to get the product ready for sale by mid-2018. Thanks to our fantastic collaboration with YBI, we were able to establish connections with several Printed Electronics businesses in NE Ohio, who are now working with us to validate the performance of the ink. We are also collaborating with some large corporations who see the potential in switching to copper. This activity is becoming increasingly capital intensive for us and we are now looking for seed investment. YBI is also trying to help us there, identifying and approaching private investors from the Youngstown area who might find this investment interesting.”
 
What makes PrintCB unique?
 “I think that what makes us unique, and so interesting for manufacturers, is the fact that our ink just ‘drops in’ an existing production line, with zero changes needed to operate. Other companies developing copper inks usually require changes in the capital equipment and other processes. We believe this approach is difficult and risky and work had to avoid any changes to the existing manufacturing lines.”
 
Where do you see PrintCB in the future?
 “PrintCB has a great potential to grow into a large company with multiple products for many verticals in Printed Electronics. We would like to see the company growing outside the borders of Israel already next year, and our YBI connection is a great platform to enter the US. We hope that with the proper funding in place, we can have some presence at YBI in 2018 for business development and application work.”