Entrepreneurship Grant Award

ActiGraph, LLC

ActiGraph, LLC was awarded an entrepreneurship grant for $100,000 to be matched with a $200,000 investment. Headquartered in downtown Pensacola, ActiGraph began in 2004 as a business venture spin-off from Manufacturing Technology Inc. The company designs, manufactures and markets activity monitors utilized extensively by the research and medical community to study activity levels, ADHD, obesity, Type II Diabetes and sleep disorders. Originally designed for use by the U.S. Army Ranger program, the devices are FDA cleared, portable, body-worn and have been independently verified to be the most reliable and accurate measure of activity monitoring on the market today.

Since receiving the WIRED grant in 2006, ActiGraph has made great strides for a young business. “Our sales volume has doubled and the product is in 54 countries now compared to 43 countries in 2006,” explains ActiGraph President Jeff Arnett. Additional gains include expanding the product line from one to six with three more in the pipeline and entering new markets, including prescription devices for sleep disorders and consumer fitness monitors.

ActiGraph’s staff has grown from 15 employees to 20 and now includes four in-house software engineers. The company primarily hires locals and often uses references from current employees. New hires are paired with an experienced employee for mentoring and on-the-job training.

“We’ve assembled a great team,” boasts Shari Butz, Director of Business Operations.

“This is the best group I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with,” agrees Arnett.

ActiGraph plans to keep that team in place by offering competitive salaries and a strong benefits package. “We have one of the best benefit plans around,” states Butz. “We offer identity theft insurance, full tuition reimbursement, Cadillac healthcare and 401k matching with no vesting period.”

In addition to taking good care of its employees, ActiGraph is making a positive impact on Northwest Florida’s economy. With 58% of sales coming from outside the United States and close to 100% of sales outside the region, ActiGraph is bringing new dollars into Northwest Florida.

ActiGraph’s biggest customers are universities who use the devices to track results while conducting research. Though ActiGraph is seeing some competition from global giants like Unilever and Philips, most university clients are receiving grants to fund research. Grant sources include the National Institutes for Health, the Centers for Disease Control and philanthropic organizations such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

ActiGraph has an advantage over even the largest newcomers. “Thousands of validation studies have already been conducted with our devices,” Arnett explains. “That means a lot to the research universities we supply.”

The company’s future appears bright as it continues to grow. ActiGraph became debt free in 2009, and recently established its own line of credit independent of the owners.