CAMPBELL, CA: Gutenberg Communications’ India and U.S. arms have split into separate businesses.
The newly spun-off West Coast firm has rebranded as Lumina Communications, led by CEO Hugh Burnham, while the India-based business, led by Harjiv Singh, will retain the name Gutenberg.
"We’d been going through a process for [about a year] of evaluating our business," Burham said. "Harjiv Singh and I — we cofounded Gutenberg [in 2003] — decided collectively our businesses are sufficiently different that it made sense to split up."
Lumina’s services include strategic positioning, messaging, customer visibility programs, executive counsel, influencer and blogger relations, media relations, content creation, website design, and social media.
Lumina has 23 staffers, all Gutenberg alums, and an office in New York overseen by MD Mike Gallo. Gutenberg has more than 70 employees in India, eight in New York, and two in London, Burnham said.
"Because of the complexity of the business and regulations in India and other countries, it made more sense for [Singh] to operate those businesses on his own," he added, noting that Lumina is working with Gutenberg on several accounts.
"We anticipate by the end of next year we’ll be about 30 people," said Burnham. "At that point, it makes more sense for us to operate independently."
Lumina will retain Gutenberg’s North America business in the tech industry, its senior management, and a client base of almost 30 tech companies. Burnham characterized the firm as a b-to-b shop, with 90% of its business coming from enterprise technology, mostly in Silicon Valley.
Burnham estimated that 60% to 70% of Lumina’s client base is VC-backed, making differentiation a critical step in bringing them to market.
"The primary thing we do is bring companies into the light and shine a spotlight on their differentiators and services," he added. "That’s how we came up with [the name] Lumina."
Revenue at Gutenberg’s West Coast operations was $2.9 million last year. The firm now known as Lumina expects to hit $3.4 million in revenue this year and $4 million in 2017.
