Two Derry businesses thrive with the help of Invest NI's Founder Labs programme
Two Derry businesses have credited Invest NI’s Founder Labs programme with boosting their development and confidence, as well as providing an opportunity to connect with fellow entrepreneurs.
During Global Entrepreneurship Week, Invest NI highlighted two Derry success stories, ConsultTed from Derry man Stephen Toland and Neil Sharpe and NumeraSee from Katrina Bradley.
ConsultTed was founded in 2024 when two pharmacists brought together a combined 30 years of experience in pharmacy with the goal of making work easier for support staff.
Stephen Toland said: "We are big believers in investing in your staff to give them the digital tools to help them do their job most effectively. This, in turn, will help the pharmacy workflow in general and allow pharmacists to do more clinical services and help reduce the number of unnecessary GP appointments.
"Having been a pharmacist for a long time, you see the problems in everyday life. Pharmacy, in general, as a sector is miles behind other sectors like hospitality.
"ConsultTed has been built by pharmacists for pharmacists."
Stephen and Neil took part in Invest NI’s Founder Labs programme in 2024, a six-month accelerator programme for the most ambitious and high potential founders across Northern Ireland.
ConsultTed received £75K through Founder Labs to support their digital consultation and triage tool for pharmacy staff. The tool helps staff advise patients on over the counter medication and self-care.
The business is launching its beta phase with NI pharmacies in January 2026. From there, they plan to work with pharmacies across the rest of NI, GB and ROI.
Stephen spoke on the benefits from Invest NI, he said: "You get a lot of mentors and a lot of great advice and workshops from people who are at the top of their game. It gives you that ambition and that drive to take it to the next level, developing your business from a passion into an everyday income.”
Derry woman Katrina Bradley, Founder and Director of NumeraSee, delivers hands-on maths resources for primary learners.
Katrina said her goal is to bring maths into a more positive space.
Numrasee started during Covid 19, Katrina said: “I am a primary school teacher; my background is actually in music. I’ve always been creative and loved performing. Over Covid, I started creating videos online because I had friends who were losing their marbles at home with their kids and didn't know how to engage them. I sort of accidentally created the business over Covid.
“I side-hustled for a year and a half, this is my third year out of teaching.”
Since participating in the pre-accelerator, Katrina has won 3 tenders with councils in Northern Ireland, including Derry City and Strabane District Council.
She said that without the programme, she wouldn’t have had the confidence or the skills to apply for these large scale tenders, but that the programme ‘bolstered my confidence’, enabling her to apply and be successful.
“Sometimes it's not the financial benefits you get with Invest NI, it's the people you are meeting along the way as well,” said Katrina.
Mary Gormley, Head of Entrepreneurship at Invest NI, said: "It is great to see that both our Founder Labs programmes have helped Derry based ConsultTed and NumeraSee secure further funding, commercialise their business and win new contracts.”