Murgitroyd: Scottish Start-Up Turtle Pack Crowned UK Competition Winner
17 January 2018 - 8:47PM
Business Wire
Scottish start-up business, Turtle Pack has scooped the £6,500
Innovator Launchpad Award, overcoming strong competition from
fellow finalists Hoolr and Alex App.
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Michael Harkins, Founder of Turtle Pack
(Photo: Business Wire)
The competition, sponsored by intellectual property attorneys
Murgitroyd, R&D funding consultants Leyton UK and clothing
manufacturer Betabrand, is open to all pre-profit start-up
businesses in the UK, and offers a PR and advice package, as well
as some limited edition clothing from Betabrand.
The winner was announced yesterday in a Facebook Live broadcast
from Murgitroyd’s HQ (see facebook.com/innovatorlaunchpad).
The first stage of the competition involved submitting a
30-second video application, and from those initial applications,
the best video pitches (13 in total) were selected to go to a
public vote on WooBox via Facebook, with the page being viewed over
24,000 times.
Following this, the top three companies went through to a
judging round where they were interviewed by a cross-industry panel
consisting of Dr Olga Kozlova (Director, Converge Challenge), David
Kent (Head of Scotland, Leyton UK), Gerry McCusker (CEO, Dog
Digital) and Keith Jones (Director, Murgitroyd) to decide the
first, second and third spots.
Michael Harkins, founder of Turtle Pack commented: “Wow! It’s
fantastic to win the competition. The funding will be useful at
this stage of my business’s development, and the professional
advice and PR help will also be valuable tools to aid Turtle Pack’s
future success.”
Michael, a swimming instructor since the age of 15, had his
“eureka moment” when he noticed that children using standard
swimming aids such as arm bands, noodles and floats were developing
the wrong swimming technique.
Inspired, he set out to invent his own swimming aid to solve
this problem. The result was a progressional aid that not only
helped children to develop a sound swimming technique, but also
looked engaging and fun – Michael’s creation is a turtle-shaped
swimming aid worn on the child’s back to give the impression of
swimming like a turtle!
Michael has had interest in the product from all over the world
and also recently achieved recognition and funding through winning
the £100,000 Scottish Edge Award.
“My target now,” said Michael, “is to successfully launch the
product in the UK and build strong foundations before scaling the
business internationally. Exciting times ahead for Turtle
Pack.”
Fiona McKenzie, Marketing Manager with lead sponsor Murgitroyd
said: “On behalf of Murgitroyd, Leyton UK and Betabrand, I’d like
to congratulate our winner and to thank all of the companies who
took part in this edition of the competition – the talent that we
have in the UK is amazing, and we’re pleased to be able to support
the start-up community in this way.”
The next Innovator Launchpad competition will be launched in
Spring 2018. McKenzie said: “We’ll be announcing details of the
next competition soon, so look out for the latest news on our
Facebook page. We look forward to supporting more UK start-up
businesses in the year to come!”
Notes to Editors
Innovator Launchpad (facebook.com/innovatorlaunchpad) is
a start-up funding competition sponsored by intellectual property
attorneys Murgitroyd, R&D funding consultants Leyton UK and
clothing manufacturer Betabrand. The competition was first launched
in Spring 2017 and after a successful first iteration, it returned
in Autumn 2017, with an increased prize fund of £6,500.
Murgitroyd (murgitroyd.com) is a global firm of
intellectual property attorneys with UK offices in Aberdeen,
Belfast, Glasgow, London, Newcastle and York. The firm specialises
in helping businesses protect and maximise return on their
intellectual property assets.
Leyton UK (leyton.com) is a global provider of innovation
funding advisory services with UK bases in Glasgow and London. Its
specialisms include helping businesses to secure R&D Tax
Credits and R&D grant funding and providing consultancy on
company restructuring.
Betabrand (betabrand.com) is an innovative online
clothing community, based in San Francisco. It designs,
manufactures and releases new products continuously, assisted by
design and crowdfunding input from its supporters.
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MurgitroydFiona McKenzieEuropean Marketing ManagerT. +44
141 307 8400E. fiona.mckenzie@murgitroyd.com
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