A Dundee University graduate who sold his business for £300 million is putting up a cash prize to encourage the next generation of Dundee business talent.
Christopher McCann launched Current Health in 2015 after coming up with the concept while studying medicine in Dundee.
The business supplies software and wearable devices which monitor the vital signs of patients.
It was acquired by US retailer Best Buy for $400m in November last year (around £298m at the time).
The healthtech pioneer has never forgotten his time in Dundee though.
Earlier this year he returned to the city to give the university’s annual public lecture in entrepreneurship.
And now he’s going one step further by pledging a £25,000 cash prize to a university business competition.
Dundee University business prize backing
Christopher, who is making the pledge with his partner Dr Jo-Ann Nugent, said he wants to support people at Dundee University who have entrepreneurial ambitions.
“The University of Dundee occupies a special place in our lives,” he said.
“It is where we met and spent some of our best years, and it is where Current Health started.
“Today, Current Health is a market leader in the US and UK.
“Along the way, so many great founders helped me and it is now my turn to help new founders as they build companies and solve real problems, benefiting our economy and our society.”
The money will be awarded to the winner of the University of Dundee’s McGhee Award, part of the institution’s annual Venture competition for start-up businesses.
The award will recognise and support business concepts with impact, global growth and scalability ambitions.
“The McGhee award named after my mother’s family,” Christopher added.
“I look forward to viewing the entries and following the journeys of those founders.”
Entrepreneurial ambitions
The addition of the McGhee award to Venture 2023 swells the prize fund to a record-breaking £68,000.
Students and staff will be able to pitch business ideas across several categories. Winners will receive seed funding to develop their proposals.
Brian McNicoll, head of Dundee’s Centre for Entrepreneurship, said: “The university is an exciting and dynamic environment for developing new business concepts.
“Our annual Venture competition is one of the most important ways in which we support our students and staff in fulfilling their entrepreneurial ambitions and once again we look forward to examining a host of quality submissions.”
