Interactive exercise platform secures £50,000 investment for expansion

A Sheffield business is taking leaps and bounds towards its mission to get kids moving in schools across the country after securing £50,000 of investment to develop a range of interactive dance and PE lessons.

The investment from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund and Finance For Enterprise
will be used by Imogen Buxton-Pickles to support the development of her online business imoves, which helps primary school teachers deliver interactive PE and active lessons.

The company’s lesson plans are being used by thousands of school children throughout the UK and is installed in more than 600 primary schools.

The entrepreneur hit on her winning idea after being employed in schools across Sheffield to deliver bespoke dance and PE lessons. After seeing the positive reactions to the lessons by pupils, teachers asked her to develop a series of easy to follow lesson plans.

In 2013, three years after launching the business, Buxton-Pickles realised the service had potential to help teachers and pupils nationwide and decided to pioneer an online platform which provided teachers with a library of interactive activities aimed at encouraging young children to move more.

In 2017, imoves was crowned the winner of the nationwide ActiveLab competition; a UK competition to find the most innovative small tech company helping to get the country active – beating off competition from over 130 entrants to secure the top prize.

Buxton-Pickles and her husband Ian began to think about expanding their business further.

They approached alternative lending provider Finance For Enterprise for support to help imoves develop and introduce new lessons, and secured a £25,000 loan from Finance For Enterprise and a further £25,000 loan from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund Micro-Finance Fund.

The £50,000 loan enabled the pair to invest in marketing the business and further developing their online platform.
Ian Pickles said: “Ensuring children of primary school age are getting enough exercise in the modern era is a difficult problem facing both parents and teachers. Imogen realised that the problem wasn’t one which affected just one school, but schools nationwide. Britain is in the midst of an obesity crisis and we recognised that if children are active from an early age, they are more likely to continue being active in adulthood.

“Our resources have been carefully developed drawing upon Imogen’s background as a teacher and are designed to give children the opportunity to develop a range of skills, whilst also giving teachers the confidence to access new ideas and approaches to learning. We knew how we wanted to grow the business but couldn’t raise the finances to do so. After spending some time weighing up our options, we decided to contact Finance For Enterprise who helped us to access the vital funding we needed to fuel our expansion plans.

“As a small, relatively new business with a limited track record, there were issues securing a business loan from traditional lenders. Without the funding from Finance For Enterprise, we simply wouldn’t have been able to expand. The service they provided proved to be invaluable to our growth plans and we are setting our sights on further growth, as we use our winning formula to set our sights on expanding our operations both in the UK and overseas.”

Mike Gregg, investment manager, Finance For Enterprise, said: “Imogen and Ian’s work is a great example of how they spotted a niche in the market. Not only are they currently developing a very successful business, but have also laid the foundations for encouraging more children to remain fit and active throughout their formative years.

“The loan supplied by Finance For Enterprise has enabled imoves to increase their offering, re-invent their brand and develop future plans to invest in international markets.”