Partner Article

NEW ISLE OF MAN ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT SCHEME DEALS COMPLETED

New Isle of Man Enterprise Development Scheme (“EDS”) investments have been completed in the last month, SPARK Impact Limited (“SPARK”) has confirmed.

Nimbus Medical Holdings Limited is one of the businesses which have been awarded funding to continue to develop and expand its InterCare® system. It allows medical professionals to monitor patients remotely, enabling them to live safely at home. Founded in Merseyside in 2014, the technology firm has received equity investment as part of the EDS to support its expansion plans. As a result, Nimbus relocated to premises in the Isle of Man in late 2016 and has already created three new jobs on the Island.

Another business to recently receive EDS support is start-up Scout4. Registered in the Isle of Man, the new company has launched an app-based marketplace for the UK construction industry, called Jobhawk, which in just a handful of weeks has attracted hundreds of users.

Several other agreements have also been reached and funding of more than £1.2 million has been committed to help bring new businesses to the Island and expand existing on-Island firms.

Mark Borzomato, Investment Director at SPARK said: ‘There continues to be a great deal of interest in the EDS, coming from a number of sectors, including healthcare, eCommerce and technology. The huge potential of the EDS is being realised and we are actively involved in further discussions which we hope will lead to more deals being completed soon.’

SPARK was appointed in March 2016 by the Isle of Man Government Department of Economic Development to run the Accelerator and Relocator elements of the £50 million Enterprise Development Scheme (EDS).

Laurence Skelly MHK, Minister for the Isle of Man Department of Economic Development, commented: ’The EDS is already starting to show promising results, with the first deals resulting in real business growth on the Isle of Man. We are truly an ‘Island of Enterprise and Opportunity’ with an established ecosystem of business support, finance and supplementary services to help new and existing companies grow.’

Nimbus has developed the InterCare® integrated technology platform which enables the elderly and chronically ill to safely live at home rather than in a hospital or care home setting. InterCare® utilises sophisticated software to allow medical professionals to set healthcare parameters, such as blood pressure and temperature, which can be monitored remotely by the computer system and can alert the medical professional on an exception basis when the parameter is outside the expected.

The platform not only improves care and quality of life for the patient, but can contribute to savings which average 37% in the recent trial. NHS trusts in the north of England are already using InterCare®, and Nimbus is ready to roll out the system to more users.

Chief Executive Officer John Curtis, who has moved to the Island, said: ‘We have relocated the business to the Island, where we can take advantage of the excellent infrastructure and expertise of the business community to grow Nimbus.’

Start-up Scout4’s Jobhawk is a new concept for the industry, matching construction workers such as carpenters and bricklayers with major subcontractors, with an app which easily allows them to find jobs, apply and get hired.

Chief Executive Officer Steve Langkamp said: ‘The Isle of Man is an excellent location for an e-business like Jobhawk. We’ve had super support from the Bridge Angel Network and many local businesses, including KPMG, Middleton Katz, Keystone Law and Greenwave Accounting.

’In a very short time we have seen hundreds of skilled tradespeople and many subcontractors sign up to Jobhawk, including major UK industry names like Pantera Carpentry, Wolfe Bricklaying Contractors and T&K Timber Engineering.

‘With the firm foundation of the EDS equity investment we will be looking to expand our team and grow the business further from the Isle of Man.’

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sarah Penney .