Jesse Genet began experimenting with different printing techniques as a teenager in 2004, attempting to print photographs on cotton T-shirts. Unsatisfied with the results of
screen printing and
dye-sublimation she pursued her research and found what became a precursor to Inkodye, a chemical formula from the 1950s owned by a retired engineer. Lumi launched a
Kickstarter campaign in December 2009 to fund
R&D of the technology. The company raised $13,597 and rewarded its backers with wallets, bags and other products printed using the process. The project was an early success for the Kickstarter platform In June 2012, Lumi launched a second Kickstarter campaign with an initial fundraising target of $50,000 to commercialize its printing process, Inkodye. The project was successfully funded, reaching over 500% of the initial target and raising a total of $268,437. Rewards included Inkodye printing kits allowing users to create personalized photographic prints on cotton and other natural materials. In February 2015, Lumi appeared on ABC's
Shark Tank and received 2 offers, but Genet did not accept either of the offers. In March 2015, Lumi announced its new software platform, Lumi.com, for designing and ordering custom-made
packaging. The service was funded by seed capital firm
Y Combinator. Lumi's platform was inspired by the challenges the company had faced in producing packaging for Inkodye. The platform was compared to other services such as
Blackbox by
Cards Against Humanity and
Make That Thing! by
TopatoCo, provided by companies that also found success via Kickstarter and looked to simplify fulfillment and manufacturing for others. In 2021, Lumi was acquired by Narvar. ==Inkodye Process==