The Israel-headquartered business specialises in digital cutting and creasing systems that it believes have the potential to transform post-press operations in folding cartons, corrugated and point-of-sale.

The new financing package involves an investment of “several million dollars” from its three main shareholders: Landa Ventures, Jerusalem Venture Partners and LR Group. In addition, Highcon’s strategic manufacturing partner Hameshavev has also taken a stake in the business.

The convertible loan from SEE (formerly Sealed Air) announced at the end of last year is being enlarged.

Details will be finalised next month once the formalities are completed, but Highcon said the fundraising would be at least $2.5m (£2.06m).

The partnership with BHS Corrugated will see Highcon’s equipment incorporated into the group’s Box Plant 2025 vision, and BHS will support Highcon with customer leads.

Benny Landa commented: “My fellow shareholders and I are totally committed to Highcon and its strategic vision.  We are proud to be associated with this important and innovative company.

“Clearly I’m delighted that Highcon is back on track, and even more delighted with such a wonderful partnership with BHS, an extraordinary leader in the corrugated market in which Highcon has recently had some great success.”

Based on the investors’ commitments and the partnership with BHS, the company was also able to secure a restructuring of its debts and credit facility with Bank Mizrahi Tefahot. 

“Together with two new orders for the Beam 2C, the total effective injection to Highcon will be around $10m,” the firm stated.

The business took a hit last month when its share price crashed after it posted disappointing half-year results.

As part of the revamp Highcon will also restructure around a newly-focused business plan.

It will save money by suspending its investment in long-term projects for the next 12 months, but will retain the ability to restart the work at a later date.

The company will restructure and downsize to reduce its annual cash burn by $6m-$7m, with headcount set to reduce to around 80, down from 150 at the start of this year.

Highcon CEO Shlomo Nimrodi commented: “It hurts to release dedicated and professional coworkers. We don’t do it lightly – but, unfortunately, it is a necessary step in securing the long-term success of the company at such a challenging time. 

“Our customer-facing functions will not be impacted in any significant way to assure continuity in our customer support as well as supporting expected new installations in the next 6-12 months; our commitment to customers’ success is unwavering.”

The goal is to bring Highcon to positive cash flow and towards operating profitability in 2024.

Highcon chairman Alon Bar-Shany stated: “The macroeconomic and investment environment have left Highcon no choice but to slow down its investments in the future and to focus on short term business goals. I am confident that this “back to basics” approach will well-position Highcon to later re-focus on its future product road map.”

Highcon pointed out that its customers were having a record year, with the number of jobs produced on its systems up nearly 30% during Q1-Q3, and jobs per system up 15%.

Linney Group director Charles Linney voiced his support for Highcon’s technology.

“Our Beam 2 system has become a key element in our offering. In the most recent quarter we produced 999 Highcon jobs – the biggest number yet.  And for this quarter we are already at almost 50% of the entire production volume of Q4 last year,” he stated, and also hinted at further investment.

“We are currently reviewing a second machine as although the Beam 2 is extremely reliable we like to have spare capacity on our kit to make sure we can accommodate our client’s requirements if needed and a back up plan just in case of any unexpected issues.”

Highcon had sales of $16.9m last year, and made an operating loss of $23.3m.

The firm’s share price had been at a 52-week low earlier this month, but jumped by nearly 9% on the news, and was at ILS19.70 (£3.99) at the time of writing (52-week high: 97.50, low: 17.00).