Metacarpal are a prostheses design and manufacture company built to make a difference. The business started in The Strathclyde Inspire Accelerator at Strathclyde University, where Managing Director Fergal Mackie met co-founder James Swinburne. With an aim to make prosthetics more accessible to the market, and bridge the gap between design and functionality, Metacarpal was born.
Traditional prosthetics currently have an abandon rate of up to 46% (26% – 47%), with the user instead opting to go without the use of the limb entirely. Metacarpal’s revolutionary prosthetic hand aims to deliver superior aesthetics and function for a price far below any other product in the prosthetic market.
Their research found that prosthetic users preferred the functionality of traditional body-powered split hook devices but missed the styling of the more bionic versions. Taking this into consideration, Metacarpal’s unique place on the market lies in a product that uses body-power technology that users want but is also able to switch between grips just like a bionic hand and uses the same cosmetic that has boosted user’s confidence in public.
The team have worked extensively with their product tester Rico Marinelli to refine the design ready for market.
Metacarpal received a total of £150K investment, with Gabriel as the lead investor. Strathclyde Inspire Entrepreneurs Fund and Scottish Enterprise, as well as David and Sally Bowie also co-invested in the sum total. This will enable Metacarpal to take their product from proof of concept through to a minimum viable product, then to commercialisation and launch. The next steps in this exciting period will be to expand the design team.
Fergal Mackie has been hugely positive about Gabriel’s investment, noting that we are one of the few syndicates that invest this early in a start-up’s lifecycle – and we are certain they will reap the rewards of this early boost.
In most recent news at Metacarpal, the business has just been accepted onto the prestigious Higgs Centre Incubator programme, which comes with £43k of grant funding. This will also provide them with premises to operate from.
