A rota planning tool that could help the NHS has received £6m new investment.
Free three-month trials of London-based Rotageek’s data-driven workforce management solution are being offered to the NHS to support medical teams facing exceptionally complex scheduling problems during the COVID-19 crisis.
The tech is being implemented across hospitals nationwide, including the Liverpool Dental Hospital, which has been reorganised into a COVID-19 Urgent Treatment Centre.
The cloud-based platform includes automatic scheduling enabled by machine learning which identifies patterns. The apps claim to make it easier for staff to swap and cover shifts and know when they are working.
Incoming institutional investor Calculus Capital and Mobeus, which first invested in Rotageek in 2018, have together participated in the round, alongside angel investors.
The company was founded by CEO Dr Chris McCullough, CTO Nick Mann and Professor Roy Pounder.
McCullough trained as a medical doctor, spending 16 years in the NHS and eight years as an Emergency Medicine Physician at several London based hospitals, including St Mary’s Hospital.
“It’s our mission to create a step change in scheduling to improve not only how businesses and organisations run their operations, but to also positively and significantly impact the lives of shift-based employees,” he said.
“As a [former] doctor, I am particularly passionate about taking those benefits to the healthcare sector. We are excited about this new funding round, are pleased to welcome Calculus and to receive continued support from Mobeus.”
Rotageek has already established a strong position in the UK retail sector, working with High Street names such as Prêt a Manger, The Perfume Shop, Dune, Pets at Home and O2.
It says it is likely to play a big role in helping retailers maximise operational efficiency as lockdown is unwound.
Greg Blin, who led the Series A & B investments for Mobeus and who sits on the Rotageek Board, added: ““Workforce management is crying out for innovation, as existing manual processes and legacy solutions are unable to effectively meet the demands of a modern-day enterprise workforce.
“RotaGeek’s technologically advanced proposition is proven to solve this issue, and effectively competes against much larger players. I’m delighted to continue to support this strong and capable management team from Series A to Series B.”
Alexander Crawford, Co-Head of Investments at Calculus, said: “We were attracted to Rotageek by the strength of their management team and their impressive technology, which delivers significant measurable returns for clients.
“The company has a strong client base in its core sector and with this investment is poised to expand into the global workforce management market, which is valued at over £3bn. We are delighted that Rotageek is also in a position to assist the NHS at this difficult time.”