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MARsoftware Limited, the Hampshire based business which offers a medication adherence mobile platform, has successfully secured an expansion loan from the Enterprise M3 Expansion Loan Scheme. Established in 2009, MARsoftware provides bespoke software to assist pharmacies and care homes when dispensing medication, allowing greater safety when managing a patient’s medication.

Earlier this year the company released their new product, YOURmedPack. This is a small, discrete and fully-portable medpack. The pharmacy-dispensed pack contains all of a patient’s medication for a week, pre-organised into individual rounds throughout the day, based on their personal schedule. The medpack prompts users both visually and verbally to take each medication round, the pack can also alert a patients personal/community support worker in real-time if they ever forget to take their medication.

The £100,000 expansion loan will be used to scale-up the business, with the focus on a new sales and marketing division. The company will also be establishing a presence in the brand new DeskLodge facility, in the heart of the vibrant, innovative community, located in Basingstoke’s Enterprise Zone in Basing View.

David Appleby, Managing Director at MARsoftware, “Our new product YOURmedPack is an in-expensive way for pharmacies and care homes to easily monitor their patient’s medications. By enabling professionals to track when tablets are taken, and be alerted when they are not, there is peace of mind offered to patients and their loved ones. The ease this brings to the process of medication means less room for error. The secure and easy online ordering system safely cuts the time it usually takes to reorder prescriptions while the real time medication monitoring platform improves patient engagement. As well as health benefits YOURmedPack also saves money for everyone involved as there is no need for physical interaction for the pills to be given. With this funding we will look extend our market share in the UK and also look to replicate our success here by establishing ourselves overseas.”

Dr Mike Short CBE, Chairman of Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) said: “Enterprise M3 LEP area has a thriving ecosystem of entrepreneurs who keep pushing the boundaries of technology-enabled solutions and we are committed to supporting their growth ambitions. We are delighted that MARsoftware has secured our Expansion Loan and also established presence in one of our Enterprise Zone sites. This will no doubt support their aspirations to grow, continue to innovate and create more jobs.”

James Edwards, Senior Fund Manager at the FSE Group, “Through their bespoke software David and the MARsoftware team offer the only end-to-end solution for mobile medical packs. With an alarming third of people forgetting to take their medication, the MARsoftware medpacks offer a great remedy to reduce this significantly. They have an exceptional product that will not only benefit pharmacies and the care home sector but also have a huge impact on patients’ wellbeing. We are delighted to be supporting the company through their next phase of growth and are excited to be part of their ongoing journey.”

The Enterprise M3 Funding Escalator is a £5.5m initiative funded by Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership. It includes a growth equity fund and provides eligible companies with loans and equity funding of £50,000 to £200,000 for activities delivering high-growth and employment opportunities.

A Reading company developing initiatives to get the inactive more active has secured a £175,000 investment from Thames Valley Berkshire (TVB) Growth Fund. The investment is part of a £900,000 funding round to support the overall growth of the business. As levels of obesity, diabetes and depression continue to rise, promoting physical activity is becoming an ever more central part of public health strategy. Led by Dr William Bird, MBE, a committed conservationist and practising GP who has been working to combat inactivity for more than two decades, Intelligent Health increases the physical activity levels of a town or city by engaging the community in its Beat the Street award winning programmes. Beat the Street smart cards and fobs are distributed via schools, libraries, leisure centres etc., which can then be used to join in outdoor activity as part of a community-wide game, run in conjunction with local councils and other organisations. Participants score points for themselves and their teams by tapping the card against Beat Box Sensors placed on lampposts across the area. By targeting a whole community at once and encouraging team competition e.g. within schools, Intelligent Health has achieved high numbers signing up to its programmes and can demonstrate real impact in terms of increased activity levels. Dr Bird explains: “The motivation to engage in and continue with a programme like Beat the Street is greatly influenced by peer activity. In schools for example, even the least active members of the class often want to be involved if their peers are taking part, which is then carried into the home where parents, grandparents etc. are encouraged to join in. This has proved highly successful in getting the least active individuals from more deprived areas more active.” Involving harder to reach families is an important target for public health agencies and a key benefit of Beat the Street. Intelligent Health focuses on helping its customers to not only engage these groups, but also keep them active for longer. After the initial Beat the Street programme has acted as a catalyst to get people moving, Intelligent Health supports community stakeholders in transport, health, education etc. in making relevant policy and strategy decisions to maintain active communities. The latest funding round will be used to scale the team, further develop the technology and support the move into territories, initially Europe, to be followed by the US and Middle East. Simon Labahn, Fund Executive at The FSE Group which manages TVB Growth Fund on behalf of Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), comments: “We are thrilled to be part of this funding round which will accelerate the growth of Intelligent Health. The management team is highly experienced and dedicated to increasing physical activity and improving health on a mass scale. The company has good levels of repeat business and a strong pipeline within the UK, along with a number of successful programmes in Austria. They are now ready to take steps to expand this across Europe and we look forward to supporting them in this endeavour.” TVB Growth Fund is part of Thames Valley Berkshire Funding Escalator, an £8.3m initiative funded by Thames Valley Berkshire LEP to support job creation and economic prosperity in Berkshire. The escalator, which also includes four separate loan schemes, provides eligible companies – from start-up to established – with loans and equity funding between £25,000 and £250,000 for activities that will deliver high-growth and employment opportunities.

A company that has developed software to support the health and environmental benefits associated with a more active lifestyle and making positive choices around travel has secured a £120,000 loan to fund further technology development as well as additional marketing and operational activities.

Reading based BetterPoints has created a technology platform including a web portal and smartphone app to help drive behaviour change in two key areas: public health and sustainable/smart travel. Unlike many other health and fitness apps monitoring physical activity, BetterPoints offers a rich reward mix including real-world incentives, such as shopping vouchers for high street stores, to effect a shift in the behaviour of its users. Using a reward points system, BetterPoints encourages increased walking, running and cycling activity as well as car sharing and public transport use. By teaming up with public and private organisations targeting health and travel behaviour campaigns such as local authorities, NHS trusts, corporates and health insurers, BetterPoints can create tailor-made programmes with measurable results for wide-ranging goals.

Using its innovative behavioural change technology, the company has successfully delivered programmes which engage users and drive a sustainable change in activity as Dan Gipple, Betterpoints Founder and CEO, explains: “The Birmingham Parks programme, developed for Birmingham City Council, produced some fantastic results which we were able to report clearly and confidently to the client. They included a 200% increase in average activity amongst regular app users and 80% of those tracked moving from an inactive to active status, as defined by Sport England. Alongside this we provided evidence that 50% of users were from the top 30% of health and income deprivation bands. Combining the available data the client estimated that if expanded city wide, the programme would save the local authority £13 million over a ten year period.”

It is estimated that the costs incurred across Europe due to inactivity is equivalent to over 6% of all European health spending, with this figure set to rise. This could be avoidable if individuals were to participate in an average 150 minutes per week of simple, inexpensive activities such as walking or cycling. Benefits of BetterPoints programmes include lower employee absenteeism rates, reduced health insurance claims, a decrease in GP visits and a reduction in carbon emissions. The company’s next move is to integrate Machine Learning into its software architecture. This will enable an even more sophisticated offering to the client, allowing fast analysis of complex data on a very large scale. Crucially it will also enhance the personal user experience by automatically customising the offer, messaging and rewards as the system ‘learns’ from past behaviours.

The £120,000 from Thames Valley Berkshire Expansion Loan Scheme, funded by Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), will help fund this development alongside the creation of resources to support expansion.

Ian Baker, Senior Fund Manager at The FSE Group which manages the loan scheme on behalf of the LEP, says: “there is growing worldwide demand from private health care providers, corporates and insurers for digital solutions that can move service users towards improved wellbeing through self-care. BetterPoints has already demonstrated its pan-European capabilities with successful programmes in Bologna, Italy and Wroclaw, Poland and is now well-positioned to capitalise on the global opportunities as it moves behavioural change interventions away from resource-heavy engagements and qualitative measures towards a fast, scalable, customisable digital solution with the ability to deliver meaningful quantitative results.”

The Thames Valley Berkshire Funding Escalator is a £8.3m initiative funded by Thames Valley Berkshire LEP to support job creation and economic prosperity in Berkshire. The escalator, which includes four different loan schemes and a growth equity fund, provides eligible companies – from start-up to established – with loans and equity funding between £25,000 and £250,000 for activities that will deliver high-growth and employment opportunities.

A Farnborough based business operating in the security market is the latest to gain funding from the Enterprise M3 Growth Fund. The £150,000 investment has been privately matched to complete the £300,000 funding round. TriCIS deals with secure IT equipment, TriCIS specialises in the assembly of TEMPEST equipment, which involves adapting standard communications and IT products to remove electromagnetic emissions, making them suitable for both military and other governmental use. The company also specialises in adapting equipment for extreme or ‘rugged’ environments e.g. military field operations. Having spent a number of years working for big multinationals operating in the sector, TriCIS’ founders, Antony Summerfield, Rob Cook and Tim Luxford, spotted an opportunity to launch their own business earlier this year. Capitalising on their extensive contacts and highly specialised skill set, the trio has already succeeded in winning a number of significant government contracts, which has been helped by a timely change to government commissioning processes. CEO, Antony Summerfield, explains: “the TEMPEST market is dominated by large corporates with overseas headquarters but recent changes to UK government procurement has led to an increase in the use of SME suppliers. Coupled with a move by the Ministry of Defence towards working with SME British businesses, this presented us with an opportunity to quickly establish ourselves as a preferred supplier in this niche market. As not only do we have one of the country’s few qualified TEMPEST engineers as a co-founder, but we are also the only wholly British company operating in the sector.” The £300,000 investment will be used to employ additional engineers to service the considerable contracts already secured and to facilitate further growth. Dr Mike Short, CBE, Chairman of Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), comments: “Communication security is vital to the business environment we have today. So the need for start-ups like TriCIS, cannot be over-emphasised. The company has grown rapidly since it was established and we are pleased to offer support to drive their ambitious goals, generate employment and further economic growth in our LEP area.” Ralph Singleton, Fund Manager at The FSE Group which manages the Enterprise M3 Growth Fund on behalf of the LEP, adds: “it’s unusual for a new company to achieve this level of traction so quickly but such know-how in the field along with a proactive approach has prompted fantastic results in just a few months. The TriCIS team is looking to expand its TEMPEST and rugged offering into the secure server market as well as exploit further opportunities by offering its professional services for training and consultancy. The company is well positioned to take advantage of the prospects available and we look forward to working with the team to help them reach their goals.” The Enterprise M3 Growth Fund is part of the Enterprise M3 Funding Escalator, a £5.5million initiative funded by Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership. The escalator, which also includes an expansion loan scheme, provides eligible companies with loans and equity funding between £50,000 and £200,000 for activities that will deliver high-growth and employment opportunities.

The FSE Group, which manages a series of funds to support businesses during different stages of their growth, is now supporting Plantwork Systems with a £100,000 Enterprise M3 Expansion Loan, together with a further £100,000 South East Sustainability Loan (SESLF).

The SESLF provides funding to businesses operating in new and emerging ecologically driven market sectors or those contributing to a reduction in the region’s ecological footprint, either by delivering products or technologies that can help achieve this, or by delivering innovation in other business sectors that result in more resource efficient business practices. Trading since 2010, Plantwork Systems based in Alton, Hampshire has a current portfolio of five products that are able to work in synergy to cater for the various stages of wastewater treatment. With the constant regulatory demands for increased water quality, the Company has invested heavily in R&D which has enabled the Company to offer innovative and propriety solutions. Each of their products offers numerous advantages, whether that is a smaller footprint, ease of use, being more environmentally sustainable or cost efficient.

There are over 5,000 sewage treatment works serving populations of less than 200 in the UK and the majority of these are old and in need of replacement. The solutions offered by Plantwork Systems are an ideal fit for these locations.

John de Moraes, Executive Chairman at Plantwork Systems comments, “Our technology combines new wastewater treatment design with existing processes, to offer the industry an innovative solution to all wastewater treatment needs. The funding we have received from the FSE Group will have a two-fold impact on the company. It will allow us to research and develop new products and also significantly increase our employee numbers in order to meet demand.”

Derek Ellis, Fund Manager at the FSE Group which manages the Expansion Loan Scheme on behalf of Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), “John and the team at Plantwork Systems have an enormous amount of experience and are well positioned for significant growth. We are excited to be supporting them on this stage of their journey and look forward to seeing them build upon the foundations that have already been put in place.”

Dr Mike Short, CBE Chairman of Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), comments: “It is interesting to see innovative technology being applied to a vital sector such as waste water treatment to help reduce environmental footprint and optimise cost. Plantwork Systems demonstrates that there is really no limit to how, or where innovation can apply and we are delighted that they have received the funding they need to break new grounds in scientific research and contribute to the economic growth of our LEP area.”

The Enterprise M3 Expansion Loan Scheme is part of the Enterprise M3 Funding Escalator, a £5.5million initiative funded by Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership. The escalator, which also includes an equity growth fund, provides eligible companies with loans and equity funding between £50,000 and £200,000 for activities that will deliver high-growth and employment opportunities. For more information about Plantwork Systems please visit: www.plantworksystems.com