has been crowned KPMG Private Enterprise聽Tech Innovator in the UK 2023.
The St Helens-based designer and manufacturer of surgical training technologies came out on top from nearly 400 applications and eight regional heats.
Inovus Medical was named the UK鈥檚 tech titan after a live pitching event in front of a panel of judges and an invited audience on Monday night at Ignition North in the offices of KPMG Manchester.
The UK competition is celebrating a decade of championing tech and innovation in the UK and Inovus Medical will now compete against the winners from 22 other countries in the global competition at the Web Summit in Lisbon later this year.
In a nerve-racking final Inovus Medical beat University of Cambridge startup Mimicrete and Aberdeen-based Leap Automation into second and third place respectively.
Inovus Medical was founded by CEO Elliot Street and Jordan Van Flute in 2012 after they spotted an opportunity to improve surgical care through connected surgical training. The company鈥檚 mission is to become the world鈥檚 partner for surgical training.
In a glorious night the company, which employs 65 people but plans to grow to 100, also won the Social Impact Award 2023.
Inovus Medical鈥檚 technology has been used in 5,000 training surgical procedures in 80 countries around the world. The company was seventh on our MedTech 50 ranking this year.
Street told 老九品茶Cloud: 鈥淭here are some prestigious awards around the country and I hope most people would put the KPMG Private Enterprise鈥檚 Tech Innovator in the UK Award in the top three, if not the most prestigious award you can go after.
鈥淚t鈥檚 incredibly well run by KPMG and you only have to look at the quality of the finalists, and the way they鈥檙e all solving absolutely massive problems with amazing technology and incredible founders.鈥�
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Street said Inovus Medical鈥檚 focus now was on growing internationally.
鈥淲e鈥檙e really a market leader here in the UK but our focus is on internalisation and achieving the same level of market penetration that we have in the UK globally,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e looking to expand our reach in the US where we already have three hubs and they鈥檙e growing quickly and we鈥檙e most likely going to have a larger operation in the coming months.鈥�
The company is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Hull-based HiiROC, which was crowned UK Tech Innovator 2022 and went on to win the global competition at Web Summit in Lisbon.
Warren Middleton, Lead Partner of the Emerging Giants Centre of Excellence for KPMG in the UK, added: 鈥淭he power of our technology sector to deliver impact on a global scale and unlock huge economic benefits, is more important than it鈥檚 ever been.
“The UK continues produce and nurture exceptional innovation and this competition shines a spotlight on just some of the truly disruptive technology being developed up and down the country.
鈥淚novus Medical is a fantastic example of the growing number of innovative UK businesses who are聽proving聽that there is much opportunity for growth if businesses are prepared to think differently or come at the problem from a new angle.
“I wish them the best of luck as they move on to represent the UK at the global competition in Lisbon and we are excited to be supporting all of our finalists with their journey as they work towards becoming the gamechangers of tomorrow.鈥�
The nation-wide competition, which is celebrating its 10th year, has uncovered British tech innovators including What3Words and HiiROC.
The 10th KPMG Private Enterprise Tech Innovator in the UK awards received a record number of entries from innovative companies, particularly from the CleanTech, HealthTech and FinTech sectors.
The other finalists were:
- Mimicrete – a startup from the University of Cambridge, which has developed advanced self-healing concrete technology;
- Oaktree Power – a leading climate tech scaleup based in London that partners with global grid operators and large electrical consumers to enable the ongoing transition towards the fully sustainable electricity system of the future;
- Goldilock – Midlands-based firm has developed Drawbridge, a revolutionary cybersecurity solution to enable users to physically segment their digital assets;
- Leap Automation – representing Scotland, Leap Automation build intelligent robots that automate repetitive tasks for the food sector;
- Electrogenos – based in Oxford, Electrogenos is reshaping the hydrogen production industry with a unique manufacturing process that drastically cuts capex costs and reduces deployment time;
- TrimTabs – Swansea-based TrimTabs has developed cutting-edge circular economy technology to make high-quality carbon nanotubes;
- Iethico – Harrogate-based iethico has developed an AI-powered digital platform to mitigate the increasing problem of global drug shortage.
Iethico won the Diversity in Leadership Award while Electrogenos won the People鈥檚 Choice Award.
The judges were Sarah Abrahams, partner, KPMG Acceleris; Dominic McGregor, founding partner, Fearless Adventures; Priya Guha MBE, venture partner, Merian Ventures; Warren Middleton, lead partner 鈥� Emerging Giants, KPMG in the UK; Oliver Yonchev, CEO and co-founder, Flight Story; Danielle Hook, director 鈥� technology sector and growth聽lending, HSBC UK.