We invested in Bombiix because we recognised the strength of its PLM offer and the impending EU requirement for Digital Product Passports.
With decades of experience investing in SMEs – from starting at 3i, to opening the Bahrain Development Bank and now co-owning Anticus – I’ve seen the challenges businesses face and the opportunities that come with them. Our role is to be a supportive investor, guiding Lucy in growing Bombiix and in future fundraising.
With experience across manufacturing, financial services, SaaS, e-commerce, and retail, I help Bombiix navigate growth while keeping a close eye on cash flow, performance and strategic alignment.
From the first time I met Lucy, I knew I wanted to work with her – she’s a breath of fresh air and the passion that fills her is infectious. It’s a pleasure to complement her skills in delivering the vision of Bombiix.
I make sure our software meets your needs, spotting areas for improvement and helping your team streamline and grow.
Having worked in hospitality, manufacturing, supply chain and agriculture, I bring a wealth of experience when it comes in creating digital solutions that tackle real-world challenges.
I joined Bombiix after being a customer – it’s hugely refreshing to see a platform that focuses on the needs of product people. After managing many global teams across multiple industries, including pharmaceuticals, FMCG, toiletries and cosmetics, sporting goods and apparel and fashion, I can see real potential in Bombiix, and I’m excited to lead the business and achieve it.
My experience is in garment technology, pattern cutting, product development and technical design and I understand the everyday struggles our customers face – the chaotic workflows, confusing email threads and out of date spreadsheets. So I created Bombiix to change all of that.
The concept for Bombiix was born from one product developer’s frustrations with outdated legacy PLMs. So, when we say we get it, we really do. Whether you’re a growing start up or experienced enterprise, our team is with you every step of the way with personalised onboarding and ongoing support. My experience is in garment technology, pattern cutting, product development and technical design and I understand the everyday struggles our customers face – the chaotic workflows, confusing email threads and out of date spreadsheets. So I created Bombiix to change all of that.
Manage your entire product lifecycle, from initial concept and design through to development, manufacturing and bringing it to shelves.
Automate your Digital Product Passports in a way that’s affordable, scalable and removes the need for multiple complex systems.
Unify all your product information with an automated PIM that ensures consistency and accuracy while reducing workload and manual data entry.
Organise, store and access all your digital assets into a single, easy-to-use hub so you can effortlessly find, share and use content whenever you need to.
Finding the right PLM software for a small business can be frustrating. With many PLM systems built for global giants, smaller teams often end up paying high costs for features they may never use. The search for the right solution feels endless, taking up valuable time and resources that would be better spent on business growth.
Bombiix is different - we’re a modern, cloud-native platform designed by product professionals to help you move from concept to customer without the “corporate” complexity or hidden fees.
Small and independent brands are managing more complexity than ever. With multiple suppliers, tighter lead times, sustainability pressures and an ever-growing demand for transparency, staying organised is essential for survival. Yet the tools available have historically been designed for one type of customer: the global enterprise.
Here’s why that leads to problems for small businesses like yours:
Legacy PLM vendors were built for organisations with dedicated IT departments, implementation budgets and a team of consultants on call. For a growing brand of 5 to 50 people, that model simply doesn’t work. You end up paying for features you don’t need, or you’re being upsold through a tiered pricing structure that charges extra for every meaningful feature.
This only leads to two things for small businesses:
1) Accept the high costs for a system that isn’t designed for you.
2) Live without a proper PLM system, but continue to pay for it in errors, delays and missed margins.
But, what if we told you there was another way? Keep reading to find out how we’re transforming PLM for businesses of your size.
Enterprise PLM systems are built on the assumption that your process looks like their process.
Rigid, pre-configured workflows that don’t match the flow of your team and actively slow you down.
For brands that iterate quickly, work across seasons and collaborate with suppliers in different time zones, this inflexibility could be the difference between launching on time and missing your window.
Good PLM software for small business shouldn’t dictate how you work; it should fit around you.
Because traditional PLM isn’t designed for the needs of small businesses, teams often fall into the trap of over-relying on spreadsheets - or even create their own “shadow PLM” by stringing together multiple systems and software.
With data being shared in numerous uncontrolled spreadsheets and systems, teams are left frustrated, spending much of their time finding files and checking if they have the latest information.
There are many options available when choosing the best PLM software for small businesses.
Below, we outline some of the most important features to keep in mind when looking for PLM suited to small brands.
Tech packs are essential to the lifecycle of your product, helping to reduce material waste and eliminate errors. But, when they’re out of date, or when your factory is working from a different version than your designer, mistakes happen. And they cost.
Bombiix gives your team live, collaborative tech packs with real-time version control, so everyone is always working from the same source of truth, whether they're in your studio or halfway around the world.
Managing your supply chain shouldn’t feel like a never-ending chase for updates, approvals and certifications. When supplier data, production schedules and compliance tracking are scattered, things fall apart. Delays pile up, miscommunication leads to costly mistakes, and scaling becomes a nightmare.
With Bombiix, all your supply chain information is in one, easily accessible space - supplier details, production timelines, lead times, order tracking, compliance docs and more.
Regulatory pressure around product sustainability is growing fast. The EU's Digital Product Passport (DPP) requirements are coming, and brands that aren't prepared will face delays, compliance costs, and reputational risk.
Bombiix has sustainability tracking built into its core, so you can capture material compliance data, supplier certifications and traceability information as part of your standard workflow, not as an extra step.
Managing product development timelines can become chaotic, especially when you have multiple teams, suppliers and product types.
Bombiix provides visual critical path timelines that let you see every stage of development at a glance, identify bottlenecks before they become crises, and keep your team and suppliers aligned on what needs to happen next.
Closed-loop PLM systems - PLM that manages the entire lifecycle of a product, from conception to end of life - has been found to help some of the world’s leading companies reduce their time to market by 20%.
Bombiix is built as a closed-loop PLM system, but without the enterprise price tag or implementation headache.
Legacy PLM systems were never built with small businesses like yours in mind, and it shows. Designed for global enterprises with dedicated IT teams, six figure implementation budgets and countless consultants, these platforms are loaded with complexity that growing brands of five to fifty people simply do not need.
The result is a premium price for features you won’t use. The result is small teams making their own “shadow PLM” by stringing together spreadsheets and systems that fit their current workflow but cannot scale.
EU legislation for Digital Product Passports is already in motion, and if your brand is selling into European markets, you will soon need to demonstrate traceability and compliance for each of your products.
For small businesses, getting ahead of DPP now offers you a competitive advantage and prevents the last minute scramble for compliance later.
Bombiix is built with DPP readiness at its core. As you build out your product data, you're simultaneously building the traceability record you'll need for compliance.
Implementation of legacy PLMs often takes around six months to a year to get up and running, especially for complex manufacturing businesses.
With Bombiix, we get you up and running within months, sometimes weeks, and you’re supported by our team every step of the way - configuration, migration and training - so you’re not left to figure it out alone.
Many PLM vendors publish attractive subscription prices but hide the true cost behind additional services, such as support and onboarding.
Our pricing is clear from the beginning - we don’t do hidden tiers or surprise onboarding charges. Simply pay for the package you signed up for, all of which include installation fees and support.
Bombiix was born from one product developer’s frustrations with outdated, legacy PLMs.
Our Founder Lucy Blackley lived the late nights, the overwhelm and the constant fear of missed details and deadlines. So, when we say we get it, we really do.
As the product grows, every decision we make is still shaped by our customer’s needs, resulting in a platform that’s a true fit for product teams.
The most successful small business PLM implementations take an incremental approach, building confidence and capability over time rather than trying to solve everything at once.
We’ve supported dozens of companies to implement a PLM - below is our best roadmap for success.
Start by outlining your process.
This will help you understand where your product data currently lives: spreadsheets, shared drives, email and supplier portals.
Identify your biggest pain points:
This is the first step we take at Bombiix - we sit down with you and go through this to make sure your new PLM system works with you, not against you.
Now you have a clear idea of your current processes, you can start to look at how this would map against a PLM.
Our team maps your process to Bombiix to identify the gaps or opportunities to align to best in class processes.
It’s now time for configuration. During this phase, we create system masters, templates and libraries that define how you’ll build products within the PLM.
This phase is about the product build - design details, specifications, BOMs, Sampling, costing - everything needed to generate a tech pack for your supplier.
Next, we build both product and operational critical paths and range plans, and start to integrate suppliers onto the platform.
Finally, we map the data flows from Bombiix to other systems within your tech stack, so you can make use of our standard APIs where possible, or develop bespoke integrations where required.
Get Started with Bombiix today
Ready to get started with Bombiix?
Let’s transform your product data together!
Schedule a Free
60 minute Demo
Book a customised demo to see if Bombiix would be a good fit for your business.
Today, Bombiix empowers product teams with cutting-edge, affordable technology that simplifies processes, reduces admin, and enables smarter, more ethical decisions.
