A manufacturer of sleep aid technologies is targeting growth after a seed investment round.
Sheffield-based Braintrain 20:20 raised £485,000 from Mercia Fund Management and angel investors which included sleep specialists and healthcare entrepreneurs.
Braintrain 20:20 will use some of the money to complete a clinical trial at a sleep research centre.
Its first patented product SleepCogni builds a sleep programme for patients based on heart rate, skin temperature and oxygen levels in the blood.
It uses a bedside device and speaker system to deliver cognitive behaviour therapy via light and sound.
Its initial prototype was built at Sheffield Hallam University. Fifty per cent of its users experienced an improvement in their sleep compared to other groups using traditional relaxation music.
“Mercia is the perfect partner for us, as their ‘Complete Capital Solution’ will be able to meet our needs as a personalised healthcare technology start-up,” Richard Mills, chief executive of Braintrain 20:20, said.
“We need an investor that understands our journey ahead and can help us plan for future growth.
“Our mission is to help the millions of sleep sufferers around the world with a clinically proven, non-drug solution and reduce the world’s dependency on sleeping tablets.”
Dr Ashish Patel, investment manager for Mercia Fund Management, added: “We have wanted to explore the consumer personalised healthcare market for a long time, and we are particularly excited about Braintrain 20:20, which has the potential to become industry-leading given the sector expertise of the team.”