A young technology company headquartered in Caerphilly is the first to benefit from the Welsh Government’s Wales Technology Seed Fund, securing £125,000 from Finance Wales.
Launched in the summer, nudjed (www.nudjed.com) is a personalised online health and wellbeing platform aimed at busy professionals. Dubbed “the Siri of health advice”, nudjed combines bespoke motivational training with a digital health advice service.
nudjed will use Finance Wales’ investment to boost its engineering and delivery teams, creating six jobs.
The Wales Technology Fund aims to provide technology start-ups with the financial backing they need to commercialise innovative new products, services and technologies.
nudjed has previously raised £50,000 in equity funding, as well as securing several government funded grants. This month, the company also launched a crowd-funding campaign on Seedrs to sell an additional £100,000 worth of equity. It became Seedrs’ ’Top Mover’ by securing more than 55% of its target in a week.
Economy Minister Edwina Hart welcomed Finance Wales’ first Wales Technology Seed Fund investment.
The Minister said: “The Wales Technology Seed Fund provides exciting technology start-ups like nudjed with the backing to become leading Welsh technology businesses of the future, boosting the Welsh economy and supporting business growth. nudjed will also be able to benefit from Finance Wales’ links with other early stage investors.”
nudjed is continuing to expand, targeting its services at professionals and business teams. This announcement comes in the wake of the NHS’s announcement last week that, to combat the growing obesity epidemic, it plans to fund employers to incentivise their staff to lose weight
Warren Fauvel, co-founder and CEO of nudjed, said: “This new influx of capital will enable us to scale and to continue our rapid development into the burgeoning health and fitness technology market, including the urgent demand for B2B solutions to meet the country’s 21st-century healthcare needs.”
Commenting on Finance Wales’ first investment from the Wales Technology Seed Fund, Investment Executive James Henderson said: “nudjed’s founders, Warren and Neil [Atherton], are a strong team with a clear vision for their business, which targets a growing and potentially lucrative niche market. They’ve developed and launched an exciting online service, which is attracting a growing customer base.
“nudjed will use Finance Wales’ investment to continue developing its online service to ensure it builds market share and stays ahead of the competition. Our investment will also help with nudjed’s commercialisation costs.”
With individuals increasingly using their smartphones and tablets to keep track of their diet, health and fitness plans, demand for health and fitness apps is currently growing by 49% year-on-year.
Neil Cocker, CEO of CardiffStart, the largest community of tech entrepreneurs in the region, believes that nudged’s windfall is good news for other South Wales businesses. He commented: “The nudjed team are really pioneering in their field and within the community. If anyone can succeed, these guys will!”