Times-7 is now a production and marketing company rather than a start-up

By Times 7, Oct 12, 2013

It was only $600,000, but it took antenna technology company Times-7 chief executive Antony Dixon more than a year to raise it. But raise it he did, picking up a few useful ambassadors along the way.

Times-7's board has been strengthened with the technological know-how of Wellington businessman Paul Waddington and the international sales experience of Greg Howard, business development manager at vehicle tracking company Imarda. Dixon has also appointed a new marketing manager, Philip Rock, to help drive sales locally and internationally and has signed several distribution deals, covering the US, Singapore and Hong Kong among other places.

"We're tracking well," he says. "70 per cent of our revenue now comes from the US and we're slightly ahead of target." The company's current revenue is just over $1 million, but like most high-growth companies, everything made is ploughed straight back into the business.

The company has outgrown its current premises in Lower Hutt's Gracefield Research Centre and is looking at a new location. "The research centre was designed to incubate new research companies and we've grown well beyond that. We're really a production and marketing company now ... and we have to be able to step up and grow our manufacturing capacity to cover future growth."

After attracting international attention at the Red Herring Asia Top 100 tech company awards, an excited Dixon is also considering returning to the market for more capital to accelerate international sales. "It's full steam ahead. We've achieved everything we set out to achieve and more. So I would say so far [our investors] have made a good bet."

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