North West business briefs: LYVA Labs; Cumbria Tourism; Sofa Club; Liverpool BID Company; Joseph Holt; Pets Choice

Liverpool-based LYVA Labs is taking the lead in investing in under-served founders and CEOs. This week, the company backed its fourth female-led business, Spotlight Pathology, with £125,000 from its Health and Life Sciences pre-seed fund.
LYVA Labs was set up with £11m from Liverpool City Region’s Combined Authority as an innovation commercialisation company to turn great ideas into high growth businesses and quality jobs. LYVA Labs’ funding will enable Spotlight Pathology to accelerate product development and commercialisation.
Spotlight is developing AI tools to support pathologists in making complex blood cancer diagnoses. There is a global shortage of highly trained pathologists, resulting in significant pressures on the system and on pathologists that can lead to delays in diagnosis. CEO Dr Sam Perona recently joined co-founders Dr Martin Fergie and Prof Richard Byers to lead the business to commercial success.
CEO of LYVA Labs, Lorna Green, is dedicated to untapping the potential of ambitious female entrepreneurs. She chairs Liverpool City Region’s new Female Founder Regional HIGH Growth Board, set up as part of the Lifted Project, a data and ecosystem-led approach to increasing the flow of capital to regional, high growth female founders. Dr Sam Perona joined Spotlight Pathology as CEO, after a successful exit from her own business, Perfectus Biomed, and has joined the board as a member, role model and mentor for other regional female founders.
Sci-tech Daresbury-based Spotlight Pathology was spun out of the University of Manchester in January 2020 by Dr Martin Fergie and Prof Richard Byers and recently relocated to Daresbury. Spotlight is already in receipt of a £900,000 Innovate UK grant, which has allowed it to build up a significant data bank of blood tissue samples and to recruit Dr Perona as CEO in April 2024. Dr Perona said: “This investment will allow us to grow the team and accelerate our ‘Go to Market’ plan.“
Akshay Bhatnagar, Head of Investment, LYVA Labs, said: “We look forward to working with the team and seeing the product come to market over the next 12 months.”
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Courtesey Lloyd Motor Group
As the school summer holidays get under way, Cumbria Tourism has launched a new online travel planner, funded by the European Space Agency, to help visitors plan their trip in the most efficient way possible. The county’s Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) is at the forefront of this new pilot project using the latest satellite technology powered by ‘You. Smart. Thing.’
It means visitors can search venues and places to visit across the Lake District and are given personalised journey routes to help them experience new places. It also allows businesses to send out personalised travel plans to customers before they visit and to notify them of travel updates. The travel planner is free for tourism businesses to use and easy to embed on their own websites. They can even add their own EV charge points to the map and help increase the network.
Managing Director of Cumbria Tourism, Gill Haigh, said: “This exciting new technology enables visitors to create their own personalised travel plans for both getting here and getting around. It’s a really positive way of promoting sustainable and active travel, too, as they can choose the best low-carbon options by mixing travel by train, bus, car, cycle, walking and so on.
“Helping to managing visitors as they journey to and within Cumbria is an important strand of the county’s recently-launched Destination Management Plan and this easy-to-use online tool will not only enhance visitors experiences out and about, but will help will minimise pressure on our world-class landscape. We’re proud to be one of the first parts of the country using this innovative new technology and are looking forward to gathering important data about user travel trends for future destination planning, too.”
CEO of ‘You. Smart. Thing.’ Chris Thompson, said: “Using space-based technologies in this way will help to continually enhance our routing algorithm and offer travel options that are optimised to help achieve regional objectives. It represents a step-change in the purpose and utility of travel planning services.”
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British retailer, Sofa Club, will open its first store in Liverpool, as part of UK expansion, this weekend.
The new location is situated on Speke Hall Road, in the former Taskers Building.
The brand is loved by celebrities, from rappers Stormzy and Aitch, to TV personalities Stacey Solomon and Sam Thompson, and also Premiership footballers.
Tom O’Neill, co-founder of Sofa Club, said: “When choosing the fifth store in our growing list of locations, we knew Liverpool was the right place to be.
“The new store is more than just a bricks-and-mortar retail location for us – it is our largest showroom and will showcase every single one of the sofas we have to offer at Sofa Club.”
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As summer 2024 comes to a close, a new free family festival on Liverpool’s waterfront will bring the city together to celebrate. The Last Days of Summer will be held on Saturday, August 31, and is organised by Liverpool BID Company, Culture Liverpool, Royal Albert Dock Liverpool and Peel.
The festival will see four key areas, spread across the waterfront, stretching from the Pier Head to ACC Liverpool, designed to provide something for everyone. There will be four distinct areas: Royal Albert Dock Liverpool will feature a food, drink and music hub; Mann Island will home free family workshops and activities with Parentfolk looking after family activities; The Pier Head will see performance and activity; Peel at Princes Dock will host a wellbeing hub, with free yoga, mindfulness, sound baths and open water swimming.
Along the route of the festival, people can also enjoy shows and performances through the day including street performers ‘Gulls’, interactive games, canvas painting, DJs, a LUSH activation Festival Spa Bar, Craft + Code workshops and more. A full programme of events will be revealed later.
Bill Addy, CEO of Liverpool BID Company, said: “As part of our trio of festivals celebrating the character of Liverpool city centre, we wanted the Waterfront iteration to be a vibrant celebration of, not just the length of our fabulous waterfront, but also something family friendly and accessible. We want this event to truly welcome everybody, and for people to enjoy the whole of the waterfront, from the ACC Liverpool right up to Peel and the Pier Head. Free activity really does make people feel a sense of ownership and community in the city, as the summer comes to a close, we want to celebrate that with everyone.”
Sean Morrison, estate manager at Royal Albert Dock said: “The day promises to offer something for the whole city while being free and accessible for visitors, something which we prioritise at the dock,” while Liza Marco, Senior Asset Manager, Liverpool Waters said: “Across our Peel Waters portfolio we are always looking for exciting ways to activate our waterside destinations. Liverpool Waters is a very accessible location and with so many fun activities planned across the bank holiday weekend, we look forward to welcoming event goers of all ages to our special neighbourhood within Liverpool.”
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A popular ‘people’s pub’ enters a new chapter this weekend when it reopens for business following a £1m makeover.
Previously known as Thornberries, the Alkrington pub reverted to its original name of The Roebuck after new owners, Joseph Holt, invited customers to decide what it should be called following the takeover last October. The overwhelming response was for the pub to return to its original name. The pub itself is unrecognisable from when it was acquired by the Manchester-based brewery. New features include a wraparound bar, beer garden and a spacious private function room. Customers will be able to enjoy live TV sporting events as well as an extended menu.
Mark Norbury, Joseph Holt Pub Director, said: “Thornberries was always the people’s pub – and so much more than just a place to eat or drink. So, little wonder that The Roebuck was the clear winner of our naming competition. Yet at the same time this is a new beginning for the pub. It’s a community pub which extends a welcome to anyone who wants to enjoy classic Joseph Holt hospitality. But also one with a massive refurbishment that brings even more new life into the pub.”
Joseph Holt, which was established 175 years ago, already owns 127 pubs across the North West. It bought Thornberries after identifying a ‘gap’ in the geography of its estate, since the brewery doesn`t own pubs in Alkington Green.
Mark said: “Location is so important to us in terms of being at the heart of the community – which is why Thornberries was an obvious purchase. Equally it was clear it needed to be overhauled, refreshed, and rejuvenated.”
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Blackburn-based Pets Choice has agreed to purchase, from Power Pet Brands, its premium Vegan dog brand, HOWND, which encompasses food, treats, and pet care products, for an undisclosed sum. Pets Choice will be taking over responsibility of sales from August 5, 2024.
HOWND, which offers a comprehensive range of plant-based wet and dry dog food, wellness treats, and cruelty-free certified pet care products, will now join Pets Choice’s family of pet brands offerings, including Webbox, Bob Martin, Felight, TastyBone and Vet’s Kitchen. Pets Choice supplies partners in the grocery, independent, and pet speciality sectors and ecommerce with high quality products in a variety of formats. It plans to use this latest acquisition to grow its share of the premium and advanced nutrition sectors.
Pets Choice CEO, Tony Raeburn, said: “This is another fantastic acquisition for Pets Choice as we continue our drive into product premiumisation.
“HOWND will give our company an entrance into the fast-growing plant-based sector and strengthens our commitment to sustainability and animal welfare. We look forward to leveraging HOWND’s established market presence and extensive and loyal customer base, further solidifying our position as a leader in the pet care industry. The acquisition will also mean customers and listings alike will benefit from Pets Choice’s distribution network, making HOWND products significantly more accessible to everyone. HOWND will complement our existing portfolio of growing brands entering us into another growing premium sector of the market.”
Co-founders of HOWND, Mark Hirschel and Jo Armit, said: “We have taken immense pride over the last decade in building HOWND into a leading and trusted ethical pet care brand. The decision to become part of the Pets Choice family is a strategic milestone that aligns perfectly with our vision. We are now excited to see HOWND flourish under Pets Choice’s stewardship.”