Five star North West tech startups selected for business growth scheme

The pandemic has completely altered the way that many businesses work, causing modern businesses to rethink the benefits, training and office facilities that they need to offer staff.

In light of this, our Business Ideas for 2022 campaign highlighted New Ways of Working as one of a number of major emerging trends that are shaping business practices this year.

Now, five North West-based startups that are making waves in the space have been selected for an exclusive business growth scheme, The Future Club – Start Ups for Success.

Launched in 2021, the Science and innovation campus Sci-Tech Daresbury, which is based in Liverpool City Region, has unveiled the second cohort of the programme.

The Future Club provides a range of technical and business support to innovative science and technology startups and will help each business to realise its growth potential.

This year’s Future Club group was chosen in recognition of their significant business potential in developing products and services to meet emerging technological, environmental and social needs.

Together, they demonstrate various ingenuitive solutions that will help businesses and their employees to adapt to today’s new world of working.

Who are the Future Club’s new members?

Post-Covid, a new emphasis on health and wellbeing has entered the workplace, as today’s HR departments work to ensure employees are being properly supported and have a healthy work-life balance.

Earlier this year, we reported on a survey conducted by workspace facilitator Reed, which found that one in 5 (19%) employees said mental health support was important to them in a potential employer.

Lyfe is a new Future Club member that helps businesses combat the problem. The simple app and online platform aims to help its customers integrate a healthy lifestyle into their schedules more easily, and counts the NHS, and KPMG among its clients.

But the new era of flexible, remote working has also brought about more practical challenges for businesses, including an increased threat to cybersecurity. In fact, according to Carbon Black reports, 88% of companies globally suffered security breaches last year.

New Future Club member PIIstor works to safeguard the use of PII (personal identifiable information) for both people and companies.

Similarly, flexible working policies have been driven by concerns around the spread of Covid-19 and other viruses. This has created new demand for proper cleaning and sanitation solutions.

Vitaerium helps organisations achieve and maintain safe working environments for their customers and employees by ensuring that the air in their buildings is free from contamination.

Also included amongst the new companies is Ampode, which uses cutting edge technology to extend the UK growing season and increase yields for horticultural crops, and Metricomm, a new data insight tool for PR and marketing firms.