Centrica has announced the three winners of its Active Ageing Challenge prize fund
The start-ups were chosen from 10 companies that pitched to a panel of Centrica and external judges at a pitch day yesterday (15th March).
The teams which will share the £100,000 prize fund are:
- MINUT, Sweden-based creators of a complete home alarm in a single device, will take away £50,000
- EchoCare, a company founded in Israel, was awarded £25,000 to help develop its non-wearable, self-learning personal emergency response system
- American start-up, Pillo Health, an intelligent care assistant for the home, received a £25,000 prize.
Sam Salisbury, Director at Centrica Innovations, said: “We’ve been overwhelmed by the innovative ideas presented at the pitch day. I’m excited to help these start-ups grow and see their technology change the lives of an ageing population. The next step is to explore how we can work together with these companies through partnerships or trials.”
Nils Mattison, CEO of MINUT said: “This prize money will have a positive impact on our business, but the most important part for us is the potential for partnership with Centrica. As a start-up it can be hard to reach customers, especially in the elderly care segment, but Centrica is allowing us to make that final step. Together we can leverage our respective strengths and develop a service that improves the quality of life for the elderly and their families.”
The Active Ageing Challenge has been set up to find start-ups with tech solutions that help meet the needs of an ageing society. 125 start-ups from over 20 countries put forward their ideas to meet the challenge.
Centrica is committed to providing support to people and technology that can change the world, and will be investing £100 million in start-ups, incubation and accelerator programmes by 2022.
Centrica Innovations has been established to invest in new technology and ideas that will transform the way we live, work and move. For more information visit: https://www.centrica.com/CI