The heart of industrial printing

Hybrid Software Group PLC

Hybrid Software Group PLC is a public limited-liability company registered in England and Wales with its shares traded on Euronext Brussels under stock code HYSG. It is headquartered near Cambridge, UK. The Company employs approximately 300 employees worldwide and has a pedigree stretching back more than 30 years.

Hybrid Software Group develops innovative technology for industrial print manufacturing processes which use inkjet and other printing techniques. The technology is critical because efficiency and sustainability concerns are driving the conversion of manufacturing processes from traditional analogue methods to just-in-time digital production using inkjet printing. Applications for inkjet printing include a diverse range of goods, from labels and packaging, to textiles, tiles, laminates, wall coverings, additive manufacturing and 3D printing applications.

Industrial print manufacturing is when printing technology is used in broader manufacturing processes where it isn’t the print itself that is being sold.

Our global brands are:

  • ColorLogic: an award-winning, global company committed to providing the most advanced software technology in color management.
  • Global Graphics Software: one of the world’s foremost software developers with the expertise to break down graphical designs into pixels or vector before they are printed or displayed.
  • HYBRID Software: develops software tools for the entire labels and packaging pre-press value chain, from design to production, with focus on innovative productivity tools for the graphic arts industry.
  • iC3D: the industry’s largest library of modelling templates for digital packaging design and prototyping.
  • Meteor Inkjet: the premier provider of the driver electronics and software for industrial inkjet machines that instruct a printhead what to print.
  • Xitron: specialists in prepress solutions that drive imagesetters, proofers, platesetters, inkjet presses and digital presses.

Our customers include the world’ leading brands, such as Canon, HP, Roland, Hymmen, Mark Andy, Kodak, Epson, Ricoh, Blue Label Packaging and BSC. We help our customers to respond to technical challenges with innovation, adding value to their products, and getting them to market quickly.

Our investment case

  • Inkjet adoption is increasing rapidly across multiple industry sectors.
  • Analogue markets are converting to digital production.
  • Hybrid Software Group enables customers to migrate their traditional manufacturing processes to digital inkjet.
  • Hybrid Software Group is the only vertically integrated supplier to this market.
  • Operating companies are award-winning technology leaders.
  • Synergies between companies in the Group, following strategic acquisitions made during the past 3 years, will accelerate innovation and revenue growth.

Annual financial report

Download a copy of the Hybrid Software Group PLC’s annual report and financial statements for the year ending 31st December 2022.

Hybrid Software Group is the only full stack supplier of all the critical core technologies needed for inkjet printing.

Download report

HYSG Annual Financial Report 2021 cover

Acquisitions strategy

Our strategy is to acquire the technology and skills that enable us to offer press manufacturers and print service providers a more integrated solution for their production digital presses. We plan to continue to add value for press manufacturers by offering more of what they need to differentiate the product lines and to tap into new revenue streams.

Acquisitions history

March 2022 iC3D

Acquisition of iC3D to own technology for digital packaging design that allows users to design and generate asymmetric 3D models quickly, such as perfume bottles, trigger sprays and moulded containers. It is fully integrated into STEPZ and PACKZ from HYBRID Software.

October 2021 ColorLogic GmbH

Acquisition of ColorLogic GmbH, leading developers of high-end color management technologies, notably extended gamut color management, providing the speed and quality required for the accurate matching of brand colors in digital label and packaging production.

January 2021 HYBRID Software Group S.à r.l.

Acquisition of HYBRID Software Group S.à r.l. from Congra Software S.à r.l. HYBRID Software is a group of software development and marketing companies focused on enterprise software for the graphic arts industry, with a strong focus on labels and packaging.

November 2019 Xitron LLC

Acquisition of Xitron LLC a prepress solutions company based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. Xitron develops workflow systems and interfaces to drive the pre-press industry’s most popular output devices and has been buidling solutions around the Harlequin RIP® since 1991. It is expanding its footprint in production inkjet.

December 2016 TTP Meteor

Acquisition of TTP Meteor Limited (now Meteor Inkjet Limited) developers of production-ready electronics and software to drive industrial inkjet print heads. The acquisition enables Hybrid Software Group to offer a broader solution to inkjet press manufacturers by combining our software solutions with Meteor’s industrial print head driver solutions.

September 2015 URW++

Acquisition of URW++ Design and Development GmbH. Sold to Monotype GmbH in May 2020.

March 2015 RTI

Acquisition of RTI Global, Inc. and RIPMall Technologies, Inc. providers of custom-branded versions of the Harlequin RIP direct to print service providers and printing equipment manufacturers. Now part of the Xitron portfolio.