An upwardly mobile venture

UNDER THE RADAR: Mark Campbell, Emedia

IT’S ALWAYS a good idea in business to do what you know best. But just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean there’s a gap in the market. And even if there is – is it scalable enough to support the foundations of a profitable company?

Luckily for Mark Campbell, founder of award-winning medical and scientific animators Emedia, there was a gap in the market. As for scalability, he’s currently working on that as part of Enterprise Ireland’s high-potential start-up programme.

“Our core business has been producing 3D medical animations for life sciences companies which want a dramatic medium to illustrate their new products at trade shows, or perhaps to potential investors,” says Galway-based Campbell (32).

“We’ve also been working with third-level medical and nursing faculties that find 3D animations a clear and fantastically detailed way to teach undergraduates online without necessarily exposing them to the shock of cadavers early on in their training.

“But most recently we’ve combined those two elements, the 3D animation and the e-learning, to move into iPhone applications – and that’s where we see perhaps the greatest potential to increase sales in the medium term.

“We now regard our addressable market as not just the 2 per cent of the mobile phone applications market controlled by Apple, but the other 98 per cent as well – including, for instance, Android-enabled phones from Google, and Nokia phones using Microsoft apps.”

Emedia’s iPhone debut is the 3D medical application, Pocket Heart, which went on sale on the Apple App Store in September, giving extraordinary 360-degree views of the interior and exterior of the heart and allowing the user to navigate through its important features.

It certainly caught the imagination. Within three days it was the top seller in the Irish “charts” for paid medical applications. It’s still in the top 10 here, and in the top 100 in the US, Britain, Japan, Mexico and Spain.

“There’s a separate shop window for each of 80 countries and Pocket Heart is now for sale in 15 of those countries, which is a pretty sizable marketplace,” says Campbell, whose BComm from NUI Galway in 2000 was followed by an MSc in interactive media two years later.

“It costs €5 to download and Apple takes 30 per cent of that price, so it’s a low-margin,high-volume business – which is why our plan is to develop a suite of some 10 different 3D medical apps in order to generate the necessary volume.

“The potential is certainly there: there were around two billion downloads within 18 months of the opening of the Apple App Store in 2008, and there are some 35 million iPhone and iTouch users worldwide.

“As to the exact demographics of who’s buying our particular application, it would be useful to know, but unfortunately that’s the sort of business intelligence that Apple keeps strictly to itself,” he smiles ruefully.

Campbell graduated straight into the jaws of the dot.bomb in 2000. He was involved on the margins of five multimedia start-ups in quick succession. He was laid off from one of those first jobs in 2001, which is what prompted him to do a postgraduate degree.

He set up shop as Electronic Media Solutions and moved into the business innovation centre at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology in 2007, received funding from Galway City and County Enterprise Board, rebranded as Emedia earlier this year and joined the Enterprise Ireland high-potential start-up programme.

It has been slow progress to reach the current turnover of about €100,000, with three staff, but Campbell believes adding mobile phone apps will give Emedia the scalability it needs – boosting turnover to €1 million in the next three years and increasing staff to about 10 people, in line with the start-up programme parameters. “We’re currently being funded by Enterprise Ireland and we’ve just this month taken on our first round of BES private investment as well. Despite the economy, 2010 is going to be a hugely exciting year for us.”

On The Record

Name: Mark Campbell

Company: Emedia,  www.emedia.ie

Job: Founder and managing director

Age: 32

Background: Graduated from NUI Galway in 2000 with a BComm, followed by an MSc in interactive media  from the University of Limerick in 2002.

After working on the margins of five multimedia start-ups, set up Electronic Media Solutions and moved to the business innovation centre at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology in 2007.

Rebranded the business as Emedia in June 2009, and in September had first 3D medical app, Pocket Heart, accepted by Apple's App store.

Pocket Heart, endorsed by the heart charity, Croí, was showcased at the Young Scientist exhibition in January.

Funded by Galway City and County Enterprise Board and by Enterprise Ireland as part of its high-potential start-up programme.

Won an Enterprise Ireland website strategy award in 2000, a National University internet award in 2002, shortlisted for Shell Livewire entrepreneur awards in 2008, and won the company prize at the Galway City Enterprise Awards the same year.

Challenges: "Expanding our mobile phone applications business beyond the 2 per cent of the market controlled by Apple and out into the other hugely exciting 98 per cent."

Inspired by: "Guy Kawasaki's The Art of the Start guide for entrepreneurs. After that, I'm constantly inspired by any number of businesspeople, from Pat Phelan of MAXroam to Pádraig Ó Céidigh, founder of Aer Arann, as well as all the Irish developers of iPhone apps at www.apps.ie who show fantastic imagination and tenacity."

Most important thing learned so far: "The importance of building relationships in business. People are the key to your success – whether it's customers, employees or business associates."