What type of products do you develop?
We focused on medical microwave technology for use in GP surgeries or treatment rooms. Because standard equipment was so large, other companies had developed it purely for use in operating theatres. With the drive to do more treatments outside hospitals and at lower cost, we saw the need for a smaller unit.
We’ve developed a microwave generator that is the smallest in the world. It’s designed to be affordable for use in various medical fields, including podiatry and dermatology.
We are now developing a range of applicators that can be plugged into our compact generators to carry out different types of treatments. It’s an efficient way of developing products. It also means our customers don’t have to invest in additional equipment.
Our SE account manager, Sarah Kenhard, is a fount of knowledge on what support is available, and is constantly passing on opportunities to get the word out about Emblation. We’ve also had SE support to take on specialist staff in quality and regulatory issues.
Gary Beale, chief executive of Emblation
What made you decide to locate the business in Scotland?
With a little bit of serendipity, I met an account manager from the Scottish Enterprise High Growth Start-up Unit in Boston. I had looked into various options for locating the business in the US, which would have been close to some potential key customers. But one of the things that attracted me to Scotland was the support we could get right from the beginning.
I was awarded an Industrial Fellowship through SE, which helped to fund the start-up. At that point I moved to Scotland and with support from the High Growth Start-up Unit, I prepared and successfully applied for a SMART feasibility study, which allowed us to develop a prototype microwave generator.
Where are your key markets?
We always planned to focus on Europe, the US and Canada. This remains true, but there’s also a significant opportunity in emerging markets.
With the support of Scottish Development International, we’ve been to trade shows in Germany, the Middle East and the US. Each of these events has been useful for making connections with potential customers worldwide. The Arab Health trade show has also helped us identify a huge marketplace for podiatry treatment in Saudi Arabia.
What’s your strategy for growing the business?
The focus for the next few years is to build on our current product portfolio. We’ve designed a number of applicators in different areas of microwave medicine.
We want to gather clinical data to support the product. This takes time and money, so we’re trying to create as much revenue as possible from our separate original equipment manufacturer (OEM) business and we have licensed our technology to global medical ablation companies.
Our current turnover is over £2 million. We expect to reach the tens of millions over the next few years.
What have been the biggest challenges?
There was a high risk of not being able to achieve our aim of creating a high-powered, portable generator. We were pushing the technological boundaries quite considerably – the nearest product to ours was around four times larger and heavier.
The main purpose of the Scottish Enterprise funding was to financially de-risk our activities. The funding also helped to create an IP portfolio, which has been fantastic in terms of getting our products on the market and licensed.
Another challenge was that I had never run a company before. I had directed development, but I had no background in attracting potential customers. The High Growth Start-up Unit gave me pointers on who to speak to and how to go about things.
Was there a key moment that influenced your success?
We decided at the beginning that it would be commercial suicide to try to better the products already offered by our competitors, the big ablation companies. This decision has got us to where we are.
We have seen other companies fail because, while they have developed good systems, they are ultimately up against the superior resources of large companies. We decided to focus on niche products, some of which we are offering to the large players as OEM products. That allows us to concentrate on other areas of medicine – specifically GP office-based procedures that are currently not served by large companies.
Have there been major surprises or setbacks?
The company has developed almost exactly as we expected. The only surprise was that product development took longer and cost more than we had anticipated.
With the funding we raised, it was always going to be a challenge to carry out all the necessary clinical studies. That’s why we decided right from the start to use the OEM route as a revenue provider. It meant we could fund the studies without giving up the lion’s share of the company to investors.
What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?
It’s important to have confidence in your product. When we sought investment we set the terms of the agreement, because we knew we had a great technology.
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