Sugru plans 50% growth following new product launch

The Irish-owned company behind Sugru, a mouldable glue product, expects growth of around 50 per cent next year following the launch of a new product.

A new “family-safe, skin-friendly” product is expected to double the brand’s retail presence by the end of 2018, the company said.

Currently stocked in more than 6,000 outlets, Sugru was launched in 2010 following a development process that took six years. The product now has more than 2.5 million users worldwide.

Recently, the company launched in France and South Africa and plans placements in Canada, Australia and New Zealand by the end of this year.

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The growth of the brand has been primarily driven by crowdfunding and since 2015 the company has raised over £5 million from more than 4,600 investors.

‘Space-age rubber’

Jane Ní Dhulchaointigh, the company’s chief executive and inventor of Sugru, said: “When I first had the idea for Sugru, I imagined this space-age rubber that could fix and improve almost anything. I wanted to build a product that was useful in people’s day-to-day lives and would in some way help tackle today’s throwaway culture.

“The new family-safe formula truly allows us to realise this dream and extending our reach into retail is the only way we can achieve our biggest ambition – to get the next generation fixing and making again.”

At the time of its inception Sugru was listed number 22 in Time magazine's top 50 inventions in the world in 2010. The iPad, meanwhile, was number 34 on the same list.

The London-based firm is currently valued at over €39 million and employs 70 people.