Dr Elliot Street and Jordan Van Flute founded St Helens-based healthcare company Inovus Medical six years ago, after developing a medical simulator for training doctors in keyhole surgery

Two inventors who created their first product as students in a Merseyside bedroom, are poised for major expansion after landing a series of investments.

Dr Elliot Street and Jordan Van Flute founded St Helens-based healthcare company Inovus Medical six years ago, after developing a medical simulator for training doctors in keyhole surgery. They marketed the product at a fraction of the cost of existing models and have attracted hundreds of orders from healthcare providers in the UK and abroad.

Now, they have secured £100,000 funding from the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) for Healthcare plus 50,000 euros through the European Institute of Innovation and Technology Health’s Headstart competition.

Last November the business secured £200,000 of investment, £80,000 from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund via MSIF in Liverpool.

Refused access

The venture began when Jordan was carrying out undergraduate research into psychomotor testing and predicting operator performance in laparoscopic surgery.

He was refused access to affordable simulators, which typically cost between £3,000 and £100,000 and were available only through university and hospital clinical skills labs.

Inspired by their frustration, Elliot and Jordan began working on a prototype for an affordable and accessible alternative in the bedroom of Jordan’s family home in Widnes. Launch of the first product was followed by scaling up operations to Jordan’s garage followed by two further moves to progressively larger units in St Helens.

Medical student

Elliot was a medical student when the company was founded and is now a fully qualified doctor and maintains his clinical practice by working at weekends alongside his full time role as chief executive of the company.

He said: “It is astonishing how far we have come since starting the company. From bending pieces of plastic with rudimentary jigs, we are now using thermo forming, CNC machining, laser cutting, 3D printing and silicone injection moulding all from our plant in St Helens.”

Global market

The company now has eight different healthcare simulators on the market including a number of versions of their original keyhole surgery simulator, which has been sold in more than 40 countries worldwide and is used by nearly 100 hospitals in the NHS.

Their laparoscopic simulators are also used by many of the world’s largest medical device companies for product demonstration and training.

Their latest investment from the SBRI for Healthcare fund will enable them to introduce augmented reality and software additions, to enhance the existing products.