THE FAMILY investment vehicle of former Rangers Football Club owner Sir David Murray has put up a share of the cash needed for a Glasgow entrepreneur to bring his lightweight power wheelchair to market.
Freedom One Life founder Alex Papanikolaou launched a funding round at the end of last year, initially attracting investments from Wood Group chairman Ian Marchant as well as Stuart Macdonald, the managing director of cyber security business Seric Systems.
Murray Capital has put up the rest of the cash, allowing Mr Papanikolaou to close the round at £280,000. His original target had been £250,000.
In praising what he described as an “advanced new product” Mr Murray’s son David Murray, who is managing director of Murray Capital, said the Freedom One wheelchair is likely to bring “significant improvements to quality of life” for its users.
Mr Papanikolaou, who has athetoid cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair on a daily basis, founded Freedom One Life in 2013 after finding traditional power chairs unsuitable for active lifestyles due to the short lifespan of their batteries and tyres.
Having originally planned an investment round of £1.2 million last year, Mr Papanikolaou broke that sum into three tranches. He will later look to raise £350,000 to help scale the business in the UK and £600,000 for international expansion.
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