Oxford-based location technology scale-up Navenio have been awarded around £50,000 in funding from the Fast Start funding scheme run by Innovate UK and the UK government, the maximum amount available to an individual business.

The Fast Start competition was set up by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to promote and foster UK technology and research innovations to boost the country’s resilience to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On 20 April, BEIS doubled its original investment in the competition to £40 million.

WHAT THEY DO

Navenio develops infrastructure-free location-based technologies that support apps and digital platforms across various sectors including health. The Oxford University spin-out uses smartphone sensors and specialist technologies to create a scalable indoor location with actionable insights.

Their AI-powered ‘Intelligent Workforce Solution’ (IWS) is used by hospitals to assign appropriate tasks to healthcare workers based on their location, improving patient flow and both staff and patient safety.

The solution does not require specialist equipment or new management infrastructure, relying on users smartphones to offer its GDPR and NHS Data Security and Protection Toolkit-compliant service.

WHAT IT'S FOR

The money secured from the Fast Start fund will be used to expand operations of the company’s IWS, which has shown to double the throughput of hospital teams.

The award will enable hospitals to utilise IWS to handle larger workloads, rapidly train and on-board staff and further business continuity planning.

MARKET SNAPSHOT

Navenio recently secured £9 million in Series A funding to develop their platform, putting it in competition with Public Health England’s Deputy management scheme.

Out of 8,600 applications, fewer than 800 companies were awarded funding from the Fast Start scheme. These include projects developing VR training platforms for surgeons and virtual farmers’ markets.

ON THE RECORD

Tim Weil, CEO of Navenio, said: “The long-lasting effects of COVID-19 demands the rapid deployment of logistics teams across hundreds of hospitals, both UK and worldwide. This funding from Innovate UK will help dramatically improve patient flow within hospitals, which in turn will free up beds for new patients and help make sure that scarce resources are available to those who need it most, as well as help protect the frontline staff we all rely on so much.”

Speaking about the government’s investment pot more broadly, BEIS secretary Alok Sharma commented: “The coronavirus crisis has created challenges that impact the way we live, work and travel, but has also prompted a wave of new innovations as businesses look at ways to solve some of the challenges facing our world today.

“This funding will support UK startups to deliver potential solutions, services and ways of working, and help ensure the long-term sustainability of these businesses.”