Business

Regional finalists announced for InterTradeIreland’s Seedcorn investor readiness business competition

Professor Adele Marshall of Advanced Analytics Labs
Professor Adele Marshall of Advanced Analytics Labs Professor Adele Marshall of Advanced Analytics Labs

SIX companies from Belfast, Derry and Downpatrick are battling it out to reach this years final of InterTradeIreland’s Seedcorn, the long-established investor readiness competition.

Deemed the most innovative in their respective New Start and Early Stage categories, two of these diverse businesses will triumph at the upcoming regional stage, pocketing €20,000, before progressing to the grand final, where they will compete against regional winners from other jurisdictions for €50,000 or €100,000 as either category or overall winner”

Seedcorn is the largest business competition of its kind on the island and has a total cash prize fund of €280,000. It is viewed as a lifeline for young companies seeking to raise equity to help their burgeoning companies to develop and grow.

As well as the fantastic cash incentives, Seedcorn provides invaluable support and advice from top investment experts and the competition mimics a real venture capital investment process which builds the capacity and experience of all those participating.

Competition elements include business plan submission and pitch, with relevant, constructive feedback given from entrepreneurs, investors and business people, which in itself is priceless, helping to make each firm’s concept ‘investor-ready’.

Shane O’Hanlon, funding for growth manager at InterTradeIreland, said: “To get to a regional final, companies have already successfully submitted a visual representation of their business idea and a full business plan, so I’m delighted to offer my congratulations to all those who have reached this crucial stage. The standard of entries from Northern Ireland this year was very high and we look forward to seeing how the competition progresses.”

Each of the six regional finalists will benefit from an intensive one-day investment pitch masterclass facilitated by InterTradeIreland, to help polish their presentation skills.

The regional winners will be announced on November 8 before being invited to pitch to a panel of judges at the all-island final, taking place in Belfast on November 22, with the overall winner and category winner announced that evening at a gala awards ceremony at St Anne’s Cathedral.

The competition can be followed on Twitter @iti_seedcorn and by using #ITIseedcorn as well as on the website www.intertradeireland.com/seedcorn.

NEW START CATEGORY

Advanced Analytics Labs (www.advancedanalytics.io)

:: Advanced Analytics Labs (AAL) seeks to empower customers by making their data a valuable asset through the development of bespoke data-driven prognostics.

Founded in November 2017 by Professor Adele Marshall, the company is based in the SME hub at Ormeau Baths in Belfast and employs four people.

Building intelligent analytics software that gives high-value manufacturing companies the tools to understand how to reduce the variability in production, AAL’s product allows real-time corrections to be made.

Adele is seeking to progress in the competition with the goal of securing prize money, which would support the commercialisation of AAL’s software and allow the company to employ a dedicated salesperson. So far, the Seedcorn process has helped Adele with business planning and she has learnt that ‘the devil is in the detail’.IMAGene Ltd (www.imagene.ie)

IMAGene Ltd, which was founded in November 2017 by directors Navein Madhavan, Mark Leonard and Janet Mitchell, is based in Dungiven.

The company creates digital platforms and solutions to improve productivity for engineering and manufacturing organisations targeting the aerospace, automotive, construction, food and drink, pharmaceutical and medical device industries, in the first instance.

Having developed a digital MVP for companies which has been partly funded by a grant won from techstartNI in July, IMAGene entered Seedcorn as it is seeking funding to further its development in order to engage customers in potential pilot projects and commercialise their products to market.

The team believes that preparing the business plan for the process has been both challenging and rewarding at the same time.

Jumpack Ltd (www.jumpack.com)

Established in 2014, Jumpack Ltd started to trade in 2018 from its Downpatrick head office. The company also has a factory based in Dongguan, China, which produces Jumpack, the world’s first portable extreme sports ramp for use with skateboards, BMXs, mountain bikes, scooters and snowboards.

Currently available worldwide through the company’s website and preparing to launch via a large online retailer, worldwide distribution networks are currently receiving stock for retail in Australia, America and Europe.

Company founders, ex-Northern Ireland BMX and Downhill Mountain Bike Champion and former All-Ireland Champion in Downhill Mountain Biking, Phil McIntosh, and Mike Crowe, decided to enter Seedcorn as they believe that their unique product, which has already been adopted by some of the world’s top athletes, has huge potential to disrupt the extreme sports industry.

With only one full-time employee, Jumpack, should they progress in the competition, would like to employ another team member and initiate digital marketing campaigns.

EARLY STAGE CATEGORY

ActionSense Ltd (www.actionsense.org)

Established in 2016 by Dr Joan Condell, ActionSense is based in Ulster University’s Intelligent Systems Research Centre at Magee Campus in Derry, employing three part-time staff.

The company has designed and developed a new wearable system that can detect and measure hand joint stiffness. The product offers many benefits in terms of time-savings for clinicians and accuracy of diagnoses as well as remote rehabilitation and analysis.

ActionSense’s main customer in the UK is the NHS, specifically Rheumatoid Arthritis clinics and patients. Currently running three trials across three hospitals in Northern Ireland, Ireland and Sweden, the company is seeking to become investor-ready, viewing Seedcorn as a vehicle to achieve this, building feedback into plans at each stage of the competition.

Should they progress, Dr Condell would invest in the company to complete the final hardware prototypes and carry out final testing on its cloud platform before extending marketing into the US sectors.

Reynolds Sports Ltd (www.reynoldshurling.ie)

Based in south Belfast, Reynolds Sports Ltd was established by Barry Reynolds in 2013 to introduce an innovative range of synthetic hurleys.

The hurleys have proved a success and the company now employs two people and sells its products worldwide. The next goal is to develop a synthetic baseball bat and the Seedcorn prize money would help with the R&D process. Development of new moulds and trialling different materials will allow the company to bring its products to market quickly.

Barry has benefited greatly from the process. Mapping the project from concept to putting products on shelves has been a “voyage of discovery”, ensuring the company has a better idea of time frames, costs and resources required to make the project successful.

These learnings will also be of benefit to future potential products aimed at the field and ice hockey markets.

NeuroCONCISE (www.neuroconcise.co.uk)

:: Professor of Neurotechnology and chief executive Damien Coyle established NeuroCONCISE in 2016. The company is an Ulster University spin-out and is based at the University’s Intelligent Systems Research Centre at the Magee Campus in Derry

NeuroCONCISE employs four people as well as a number of subcontractors. It has developed a solution that can revolutionise the way that consciousness and awareness can be assessed following a traumatic brain injury, allowing basic communication channels to be realised even when a person is unable to speak or move.

A wearable product that is comprised of unobtrusive, concealable electronics on a flexible substrate for recording brain signals with high precision; the technology centres around people’s ability to imagine movement and modulating brain activity to control a brain-computer interface.

Currently pre-revenue, the firm will market products in the UK and Ireland initially before extending to Europe and America. Investor-ready and with a sound business plan, the Seedcorn competition offers the firm beneficial exposure and feedback from investors as well as the opportunity to raise additional funding to support business development.

The product is undergoing clinical trials involving patients at 16 hospitals in the UK and Ireland.