The Advisory Board to the Jersey Innovation Fund has made its first-ever investment from the Fund, into Jersey-based company Stumpydog Innovations, to help support the growth of the company over the next three years.
The Jersey Innovation Fund (JIF) – one of the key priorities contained within the States 2012 Economic Growth and Diversification Strategy – was awarded £5 million funding by the States in May 2013, to invest in local companies seeking to encourage innovation and improve Jersey’s international competitiveness in global markets.
Stumpydog Innovations, founded by designer Catherine Curtis, is an innovative local start-up business that has designed a number of products for global babycare markets. Its patented new portable travel-cot product – BabyHub SleepSpace – is the likely first product-to-market and has already attracted the attention of major UK and international high street retailers.
JIF funding will help Stumpydog secure initial stocks of product, support product selling-in in the UK and international markets, and secure distribution deals in key markets. Funding will also help bring forward development of its award-winning prototyping-stage ‘BabyHub’ bedside crib product.
JIF Chairman Tim Herbert confirmed that this initial investment is likely to be followed by others in due course: “I can confirm that the JIF Advisory Board is in advanced discussions with at least three companies seeking to secure significant second-stage investment that could open up significant global market opportunities. Given the technical complexity of their products and scale of investment sought, these applications are likely to take a few more weeks, however I am confident that further good news from JIF will not be long in coming.”