£1m for well-being from North East Venture Fund

The investment will be used to further develop an existing One Wellbeing app, which tracks the health of employees. 

Those using the app receive tailored analysis of their health and well-being, which the system produces from a range of sources. This includes fitness trackers, tests of cognitive performance and data from the employer’s smartphone.

 Of course, that information can be useful for an individual. But the app really comes into its own by aggregating the data received from individuals in the same workplace.  

Employers receive anonymised data insights into their employees as a whole, enabling them to make improvements to the workplace environment and to working conditions. The aim is better, healthier working for everyone. 

The One Wellbeing app was created by sports scientists Dr Phill Bell and Dr Paul Bell at Newcastle-based ART Health Solutions.

As a direct result of this new investment, the company will itself take on another 10 employees. It is regional funding but Dr Bell says that, ‘The extra capital will support the business in scaling our products throughout the UK and beyond.’  

ART Health Solutions, which was founded in 2018, has already been awarded money from the North East Fund. In January 2022, £800,000 was invested to support development and trials of the app. The new award of £1 represents continued faith in the company.

Funding of this sort can obviously make a significant difference to small and medium-sized enterprises. The North East Fund offers investment of between £10,000 and £2m for SMEs in Tyne & Wear, Northumberland and County Durham. This includes companies at all stages of development and in most sectors. Funding is managed by Mercia and supported by the European Regional Development Fund. 

‘Employee well-being and retention is now a key concern for employers,’ says Alex Simpson, Investment Manager at Mercia. ‘The ART Health team have been using these principles for years in their work with corporate clients and the launch of the app will enable smaller companies and their employees to achieve similar benefits.’

In related news, a recent report outlined six challenges facing Welsh startups and the tech ecosystem.

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