CORK Ireland, 09 September 2011: The Bank of Ireland Seed and Early Stage Equity Fund has led an €800k investment in Dublin-based Ikon Semiconductor Limited (“Ikon”), a fabless semiconductor company developing novel solutions for the LED lighting industry.

The syndicated investment comprises of a €400k investment by the Bank of Ireland Seed Fund with the remainder of the funds provided by Simple.ie Green BES Fund, Enterprise Ireland and private investors. LED or Light Emitting Diode lighting is the fastest growing and most efficient source of green energy lighting. Ikon will use the funds to support the development of its single-chip power converter, which resides within the bulb and powers the LED light while improving efficiency, cost, power factor, dimmer compatibility and size. As many governments around the world have passed measures to phase out incandescent light bulbs for general lighting, Ikon is focused on the residential and commercial LED bulb replacement market which is expected to grow exponentially from 80 million units in 2011 to 430 million units by 2013.

Commenting on the announcement, Orla Rimmington, Operations Director, Kernel Capital, said: “Kernel Capital is very pleased to lead this investment in Ikon Semiconductor, which will enable the company to tackle the growing global market in LED lighting. The Ikon solution is simpler, smaller and less costly than the competition, and so enables its customers to tackle previously unreachable markets, while simultaneously helping our environment by reducing the power consumed through replacing old-style lighting.”