Murgitroyd: Scottish Start-Up Turtle Pack Crowned UK Competition Winner

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.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180117005588/en/

MurgitroydFiona McKenzieEuropean Marketing ManagerT. [phone]E. [e-mail]