The Aim-listed PLC had already raised around £1.1m before expenses via a share subscription earlier this year.

The latest sum of £4.01m has been conditionally raised through a placing and subscription of 28,653,569 new ordinary shares at a price of 14p each, both to existing and new shareholders.

The company said it plans to continue to scale up the business in the UK and overseas during 2019 and beyond, with the net proceeds of the share placing “intended to be used to fund further acquisitions as well as to invest in acquiring Nettl partners and franchisees, domestically and internationally”.

While the group is negotiating these acquisitions, it said it would utilise up to £1.5m of the net proceeds to repay existing debt arrangements to save unnecessary interest payments. It plans to finance acquisitions with a mix of equity and debt.

Chief executive Peter Gunning said: “We’re really pleased with support from existing shareholders and a new one.

“This is a call to arms for entrepreneurs who want to open a Nettl Business Superstore in their town. We are looking for ambitious folk to join us and grow their businesses, faster together.

“We’re also pleased to welcome our ninth Nettl of America franchisee in sunny Zephyrhills, Florida. We’ll be at Print 19 in Chicago and Printing United in Dallas during October.”

Earlier this month Grafenia claimed a world-first with the addition of a new ‘buy now, pay later’ payment option to its Marqetspace printing platform.

The company is expecting to file a £1m-plus boost in sales for the financial year but has warned that it will post negative EBITDA for the period, although said it had returned to breakeven based on monthly run rates for the current year.