Alice and Dan discuss floating padel courts, a management buyout at a company in Yorkshire, and funding for a medical device business.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Floating paddle carts, an NBO in Leeds, and funding for a medical device company.
00:05That's all coming up on today's Business Briefing.
00:13Morning Dan.
00:14Morning Alice, what's caught your eye today?
00:16Well, we've actually got quite a fun story in Liverpool.
00:20Now, we've covered quite a lot of paddle stories in the last year or so.
00:24It's meant to be like the world's fastest-growing sport or something, so carts are popping up everywhere.
00:28But this one's quite different, because Liverpool is actually set to be home to the UK's first floating paddle carts.
00:34So, plans have been submitted for the carts, which will be based at Peel Waters Princess Dock.
00:40That's part of the Liverpool Waters development.
00:43And they include three carts built on a special platform from Finland, as well as a clubhouse.
00:48Now, the clubhouse will have a bar and restaurant, so people can socialise.
00:53And it'll also have a little shop, which is selling all things paddle.
00:56So, quite interesting.
00:58The plans have been submitted this week, and it's hoped that they'll be signed off by spring, meaning that the carts will be able to open in summer.
01:05Which is a great activity for Liverpool.
01:08And it's also, I think, a little bit of a trend at the minute, because in recent times, a wild sauna opened in Liverpool.
01:14I don't know if you saw that, but it was the floating sauna, also in Liverpool Waters.
01:19And this one's quite fun, because there's actually not that many places in the world that have these floating paddle carts at the minute.
01:25They're in places like Dubai, Miami, and Helsinki.
01:29So, quite fancy places that Liverpool will be joining.
01:32It's really cool to see them alongside those names.
01:35Pretty cool scheme as well. Have you had a go at paddle yet?
01:38Not yet. It's actually, I did look into it, but all the carts were really booked up.
01:42So, it's quite nice to have the new ones coming.
01:45Maybe you can make your debut on the floating court.
01:47Maybe.
01:48Anyway, so I've got a deal up in Leeds.
01:51A regulated compliance services provider based in Leeds has completed a management buyout,
01:56supported by a £10 million funding package from a Recapital and TDC's Impact Fund.
02:01So, Product Partnerships Limited, or PPL for short, was founded in 2014,
02:06and they provide outsourced compliance services to retailers offering consumer credit products.
02:11They serve an impressive range of clients, including Google, Aston Martin, JD Sports, and Peloton.
02:18Although they were historically focused on the motor industry,
02:21PPL have now diversified into other FCA regulated sectors, such as retail, green energy, and financial services, and TDC.
02:30They've said the deal will enable the firm to expand further, create new jobs, and contribute positively to the local economy.
02:37So, it's always good to see the company being passed on to someone who's going to maintain that sort of culture in the long term.
02:44I understand you've also got a deal coming up north.
02:46Yeah, we do. So, in Sunderland, Applied Monitoring, which is a medical device company,
02:51has secured £500,000 to develop its device, which monitors athletes' lactate levels.
02:58So, the device continuously monitors lactate levels in the blood, which are used to detect when athletes have reached peak exertion,
03:06and it kind of helps them plan their training regime moving forward.
03:11Now, at the minute, in order to do this, traditionally, fingerprint tests are used, which are kind of fiddly, obviously not very comfortable,
03:21and chief executive and co-founder John Dixon said that they're not always accurate as well.
03:28So, this device aims to remove the need for them, and it could also be embedded into an armband, which can then sync up to a smartwatch.
03:36Now, the new funding has been secured from the North East Venture Fund, which is supported by the European Regional Development Fund,
03:43and managed by Mercia Ventures, and this will help the business to launch the device, hopefully in the next 12 months.
03:49Now, previously, they'd secured some funding from the fund, so this new investment has brought the total raise so far to more than £1 million.
03:58That's really good to see. I've actually seen the Premier League clubs doing these lactate tests as part of their pre-season.
04:05Oh, really?
04:06I know the players running around, and they've been taking the blood after they've done a couple laps, and it did look quite fiddly,
04:11so I'm not surprised someone's tried to come up with a more convenient solution for that.
04:15Yeah, it's a good idea.
04:16Anyway, just to finish off here, we've got some news from the Welsh capital.
04:19Mermaid Quay, the dining and leisure destination in Cardiff Bay, have secured planning permission to demolish their existing car park
04:26and replace it with a multi-storey facility that will see an expansion of more than 300 new spaces.
04:32That extension will create a much greater parking capacity for Cardiff Bay, which will help, obviously, to drive investment into the area.
04:39The scheme will see the car park halt its operations on 2 March, and demolition will begin shortly after.
04:45Following a three-month demolition phase, the construction of the new multi-storey facility will take around nine months,
04:52leaving it due to reopen in April 2026.
04:56Planning approval was secured from Cardiff Council, with the application featuring a lot of benefits,
05:01such as accessible spaces on the ground floor, increased parent and child spaces, as well as new electric vehicle charging points as well,
05:09which I know a lot of councils are keen to see more of.
05:12Yeah, definitely needed.
05:13Yeah, definitely.
05:14And the new car park will also see the creation of a new layout and exits to help improve traffic flow in the area.
05:20So that project will take some time, but will also create some major benefits in the long term, especially economically.
05:27That's all we've got time for today.
05:30But to read more about these stories, please visit incitingmedia.com,
05:34where you can subscribe to our magazine and find out about upcoming events.