A healthtech business revolutionising stroke rehabilitation has won the Best Elevator Pitch at incubator SETsquared Bristol’s Tech-Xpo 2023 showcase.
SoleSense uses shoe sensors and a real-time biofeedback app to provide personalised digital physiotherapy to stroke patients.
The firm, which fought off strong competition from nine other SETsquared-based businesses to claim the title, was founded in 2018 by Caz Icke, who drew on her experience as a specialist neurorehabilitation physio working with individuals who had suffered stroke.
One in four adults will have a stroke in their lifetime. Yet the national average for NHS physiotherapy provision is just 13 minutes a day – nowhere near enough to give the 100,000 stroke survivors a year in the UK the rehabilitation time they need.
SoleSense can be used as an adjunct for clinicians and individuals and is designed to enable patients to do more independent rehabilitation. Patients can wear the insoles continuously to improve performance in balance and walking, enabling them to track their own progress and set collaborative goals with their therapist.
Caz, pictured with Nathan Guest of Tech-Xpo sponsor VWV, took part in SETsquared Bristol’s Enterprising Women business support programme fully funded by NatWest, with SoleSense going on to join SETsquared Bristol’s incubation programme last year to receive support with fundraising.
Over the next 12 months the company plans to grow its team, raise finance and further develop its technology.
Caz said: “It was a great pleasure to take part in Tech-Xpo. The warm atmosphere and friendly camaraderie made it easy to relax and enjoy the moment, with winning the icing on the cake.
“It is always great to receive such a boost on a journey that can be pretty challenging, especially as a sole founder. SETsquared has given me brilliant support and I’m really looking forward to the next stage of raising funds to grow the business.”
SETsquared Bristol director Kimberley Brook added: “SoleSense was a very popular choice, which was no mean feat considering the exceptional line-up of talent and pitching prowess on show.
“Caz is one of Bristol’s leading female clinical entrepreneurs, has won prestigious grants and has a bright future.”
Now in its 19th year, Tech-Xpo is SETsquared Bristol’s flagship annual showcase where selected companies exhibit and pitch in front of an audience of more than 100 investors and business movers and shakers.
Previous winners have gone on to achieve notable success. Ferryx, the 2021 winner, closed its first investment round of £300,000 shortly afterwards and has since launched its gut health supplement Ferrocalm.
2020’s winner KETS Quantum Security has raised £3.1m pre-series A to pioneer quantum encryption on a chip, while Joyann Boyce, the CEO and founder of last year’s winner Inclued, has been named by Rife Magazine as one of its among 30 under 30 and as a Change Maker by BIMA100.
Tech-Xpo 2023 was sponsored by Bristol-headquartered national law firm VWV for the 14th year. VWV was joined this year by Bristol Innovations, the University of Bristol initiative to increase, enhance and promote its enterprise and innovation activity.
Other companies showcasing at Tech-Xpo 2023 were:
AI Simulator is a one-stop-shop for anyone looking to learn the art of early-stage investing and fundraising.
Alo Mundus is a platform that connects urban nature projects with businesses to help them fund initiatives that align with their values and objectives.
DRIFT Energy is the world’s first mobile class of renewable energy creating green hydrogen at sea and distributing it globally.
Ferryx develops natural bacterial products capable of functioning during active disease, which can be developed as food supplements or prescription therapeutics.
Gritty Talent is a tech-driven talent company, building talent value-chain products that support thriving and diverse workforces in the digital age.
Infinifty is an e-commerce solution ready for web3 that allows creators and brands to bundle their brilliance into secure, authentic, collectible capsules.
Moropo is a no-code automated testing platform for mobile apps. It provides everything you need to record test flows, replay them across real devices and review the results.
myCopilot.ai is a pro-active AI Assistant for ADHD, compassionately transforming its users’ moments of need into opportunities to choose the life they really want.
Rosa Biotech aims to transform the diagnosis and monitoring of patients with chronic disease to significantly enhance outcomes by enabling earlier intervention.
RouteZero is a climatetech company which takes aim at Europe’s largest source of emissions: travel and transport.
Senmag Robotics is on a mission to democratise the sense of touch, with its user-friendly, affordable and high-fidelity force feedback device.
Shelf Conscious provides the toolkit brands that retailers need to efficiently monitor and optimise their digital shelf.
Siloton is developing a personal eye scanner that is portable, inexpensive, and highly scalable leveraging a technology called integrated photonics.
Supersmith has developed an affordable, self-stabilising three-wheel mobility scooter that leans into corners and remains perfectly level on uneven ground and cambers.
Wilder Sensing helps investors, land managers and ecologists quantify changes to biodiversity using commercially available audio sensors and AI.
