Im-Able wins US investor's backing
Lower Hutt firm, which uses a games console to help rehabilitation, has won the backing of a United States investor.
Tuesday, September 06 2011 || News || BY Hamish Rutherford, Businessday.co.nz
The firm launched a fundraising round to help it launch products globally.
Qi2, part of Seattle-based Quest Integrated, has invested alongside the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund and Cure Kids Ventures, a subsidiary of the Child Health Research Foundation.
The three shareholders contributed $600,000 and now hold just over 26 per cent of the company.
Im-Able, which is commercialising technology developed by crown research institute Industrial Research Limited, sells a games system which aims to help restore movement following brain injury, through exercise and brain stimulation.
The devices connect wirelessly to computers, with users playing simple games targeting particular movements. The company says users enjoy playing on the devices, while the cost, around $1000, is much less than ongoing private physiotherapy.
Chief executive Sunil Vather said Im-Able was preparing to submit regulatory applications for the Food & Drug Administration in the US, as well as planning a launch in Europe.
The company has already appointed distributors in New Zealand and Australia and has had a small number of sales to customers around the world through the publicity the products have generated.
Milton Altenberg, the chief executive of Qi2, said the investment reflected a backing of Im-Able's management, with his company having earlier dealt with Vather and co-director Geoff Todd during their time as managers at IRL.
He also saw sound financial sense in Im-Able's products, which could help rehabilitation at a lower cost than clinical care.
"It provides an opportunity to improve the cost of care."
It is not the first time Altenberg has invested here.
In 2006 Quest Integrated bought MPT Solutions, a consultant to the energy sector which was then owned by IRL, renaming it Quest Integrity.
Im-Able was a finalist in last year's Unlimited Investment Challenge.
