A Gloucestershire firm is celebrating following the success of two products it was instrumental in designing and bringing to market
Cheltenham-based product development company D2M Innovation Ltd helped start-ups MealKitt and Magnetips through the complex process of designing, prototyping and costing their inventions.
After MealKitt and Magnetips ran successful Kickstarter campaigns in 2016, both securing well over their target funds, production began, and orders started coming in. A big boost came for them both this week however, when their inventions were featured on Channel 4’s Buy It Now programme.
On Buy It Now, inventors of new products have just 90 seconds to demonstrate their creation in the hope of securing a potentially life-changing order with a national retailer. Julian Gaine, inventor of Mealkitt and Noam Bar Yohai who designed Magnetips, both impressed the audience and retailers enough to secure substantial sales.
MealKitt came about because of Julian’s desire to help his mother lose weight. A qualified personal trainer, Julian saw a gap in the market for a product that could manage portion control without the need for calorie-counting or weighing food. Developed from sketch concept to production by D2M, it made retail sales of £32,512 during its 8-minute Buy It Now feature alone! It is now being sold in the UK, Europe and the USA.
“D2M helped with the process of getting my product to market” said Julian. “They were professional and the whole process went very smoothly. I am so happy with the development, outcome and progress of MealKitt that I am now working with D2M to develop the LunchKitt portion-controlled lunchbox, which will be launched on Kickstarter early next month. The outcome of the show was amazing as I’m now in contact with some of the biggest UK retailers.”
Noam bar Yohai captivated the Buy It Now audience and retailers with his innovative magnetic pens which attract to each other and other metallic objects in fun and inspiring ways. The superior quality refillable Fineliners raised £435,745 through Kickstarter and achieved sales of over £20k during the Buy It Now episode.
Noam said: “I’ve spent almost four years on developing and marketing this product, so to get such positive feedback [on the programme] means a great deal to me. I really look forward to seeing Magnetips succeed. I’m grateful to D2M for helping me on this journey and enabling my idea to come to fruition.”
Phil Staunton, Managing Director of D2M said: “D2M Innovation is all about helping our clients to commercialise their great new product idea. It is always fantastic to see clients succeeding in retailing their products.”
For more information, visit the D2M website.
