London-based camera and lighting rental house, Pixipixel, has secured a significant investment from Merino Private Equity. With its two specialist divisions – Cameras, located in Hoxton, East London and Lighting, located in Tottenham, North London – Pixipixel is one of the only independent UK rental houses offering both camera and lighting, serving both short and long form hire from a single point of contact, delivered and budgeted together.
The investment from Merino will propel Pixipixel’s growth plans as the company continues to expand its lighting and camera packages to the feature film, television, commercials and stills industries.
As part of the transaction, Steve Knight has moved from his current role as COO to become managing director. Toby Newman, founder and technical guru, will take up a new role as director of lighting, and Vince Wild, formerly of Take 2, continues as director of cameras.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial impact on our industry, and we’ve rapidly adjusted to meet the needs of our clients,” said Knight. “Over the last few months we have welcomed the return of TV drama and film productions. We’ve been working at full capacity on commercials and stills, with the benefit of camera and lighting coming from one source thereby limiting the risk of contamination.
“We strive to support crews with a quality and service you won’t find anywhere else – for which our thanks go to Pixipixel’s friendly and amazingly dedicated team. We are really excited about the future of our industry and are thrilled to welcome Merino as a strategic partner to support the next chapter of our development.”
Mark Colley, MD of Merino commented, “We were impressed with Steve and Toby’s plans for the business and are excited to invest in the thriving UK film sector.”
