Millennium Entrepreneur Fund start-up Medical device Company to Employ 20 by 2002 £2.7 Million investment - Tánaiste

Mary Harney, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment, today (Wednesday 13th October, 1999) announced the establishment of the first new venture to be supported by the Millennium Entrepreneur Fund. Nova Science Limited will produce medical devices in Dublin. According to the Tánaiste the company has entered into agreements for £2.7 Million of equity financing with its founders, directors and institutional investors. It will employ 20 people by the year 2002.

"The Millennium Entrepreneur Fund was established last year to provide seed funding for new projects promoted by overseas nationals relocating to Ireland. Nova Science will develop a series of products for the interventional cardiology and minimally-invasive cardiovascular surgery markets," said the Tánaiste.

The project sees the return to Ireland of Mr James Coleman, an eminent vascular surgeon with extensive experience in devices, as Chief Executive Officer of the new company. Mr. Coleman was most recently Senior International Medical Director with Tyco International Inc. headquartered in Mansfield, Massachusetts, USA and has lived and worked abroad for 10 years. The other promoter is Mr Christopher Cummins an engineer with many years of experience in the medical device industry who will be Director of Research and Development.

The Tánaiste added that "Medical Device production is an important and rapidly growing sector. Nova Science is an exciting development and a vital addition to the increasing numbers of start-ups in the sector."

MVM Ltd, a London-based venture fund specialising in health care, joined with 3i plc, Enterprise Ireland and the Millennium Entrepreneur Fund to finance the company. Dr. Stephen Reeders, chief executive of MVM, believes that Nova Science has excellent prospects because of the experienced management team and a rapidly growing market for its products. He said "Nova Science is developing products that can be used in a large proportion of the 7,000,000 interventional procedures that are performed world-wide each year by cardiologists and radiologists." Mr. Neil Graham, investment director, has made several investments in Irish companies on behalf of 3i. He noted that "the expanding universe of medical device companies in Ireland contributes to an excellent environment for start-up companies such as Nova Science."