Entrepreneur sleeps soundly with Innovate UK funding
Funding has reached seven figures at SleepCogni, the sleep technology business, after a £500,000 funding injection from Innovate UK.
The innovation agency has co-funded the Sheffield-based company’s R&D programme into insomnia.
This takes funding and investment into SleepCogni to over seven figures in the last months, following a recent £485,000 investment led by Mercia Fund Management.
SleepCogni will embark on a clinical trial with 150 subjects over 1,490 research nights.
Trials commence later in the 2017 with Sheffield Hallam University, final clinical trials will be completed 2018. Products will be available in 2019 after further fund raising.
In the past year, SleepCogni hired Dr Van de Werken as chief scientific officer and relocated to the Kroto Innovation & research Centre within the University of Sheffield.
SleepCogni works via a bedside device that monitors sleeping patterns. Using this data personalised treatment plans are developed.
Dr Maan Van de Werken, chief scientific officer and chronobiologist, said: “We are very excited about our current progress in research and development.
“Validation and further development is ongoing, and we are planning our clinical trials, in collaboration with scientists from both Universities in Sheffield and internationally, in the Netherlands. We are committed to use our technology to help people that suffer from issues related to sleep.”
Dr Ash Patel board member & Investment Manager at Mercia Fund Management said: “We are excited to be supporting what could potentially be a game changing patented technology, this is a global issue that is crying out for a clinical solution.”
Rich Mills, SleepCogni CEO, said: “I suffered from insomnia for over a decade. Just monitoring when you are or not asleep or my bedroom environment never helped my sleep initiation.
“Sleep is pretty complex and unique to the sufferer but there is some clear science that you need to understand to build the bigger picture. Our company may be creating the perfect clinical personalised algorithm to help the user wind down and sleep better. More importantly SleepCogni allows the user to manage their own insomnia.”
