Mental health and wellness platform Discova 鈥� formerly known as听Myndr听鈥� is one of 20 finalists in Tech Nation鈥檚 Rising Stars 3.0 competition.听
The esteemed programme brings together some of the country鈥檚 brightest tech start-ups from across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.听
Aiming to support early-stage companies in their scale-up efforts, the competition culminates in the top 20 companies showcasing their work to an audience of investors, influencers and the wider tech community, with the hope of being named one of the 10听Rising Stars.听You can see profiles of all 20 finalists further down this article.听
Founded in 2018 by Lizzy听Hodcroft听and Emma Reilly, Discova is a digital platform that promotes wellbeing and helps companies and its employees battle common mental health issues via peer-to-peer听support.听
Designed for both personal and corporate use, the soon–to–launch platform utilises the power of data and machine learning to deliver personalised support and guidance to suit different personality traits, learning styles and life experiences.听听
A unique feature of the app is the steps Discova have taken to make the product accessible; representative to different cultures and backgrounds as well as tackling unconscious bias.听
The idea behind Discova stems from听Hodcroft听and Reilly鈥檚 personal mental health struggles and frustrations accessing mental health support through the NHS. With the isolation and loneliness of the pandemic having a crippling effect on the nation鈥檚 mental health, Discova鈥檚 platform is more important now than ever.听
鈥淏uilding a business that is seeking to bring positive change into the daily lives of people at home is something a lot of people connect with at the moment,鈥澨�said听Hodcroft.听
鈥淢ental health and wellbeing are being given a lot more attention in recent years. COVID-19 has helped to highlight this.听
鈥淭he pandemic has radically accelerated efforts to promote work-life balance, raise mental health awareness and provide emotional support to those that need it.听
鈥淢ental health and wellness support can no longer be location-dependent and I believe there has been a shift from treatment to prevention. We are all dealing with so much right now, trying to balance our lives at home while also planning for a future that, at times, seems non-existent.听
鈥淒iscova is important because we are helping people to gain the coping skills they need to get through this tough period.鈥�听
This isn鈥檛 the first time that the company has applied for the Tech Nation programme. Last year the founding duo applied for the competition without success, however they remained undeterred.听
Over the following year, in the middle of a global pandemic, Emma and Lizzy propelled the business forward. In April 2020, the company was awarded a 拢300,000 grant from the Innovate UK fund. With over 1,600 applications and only a 4% chance of success, the company wrestled out strong competition with one of the highest-graded scores in the grant round.听
Crowned听Startup听of the Year for 2020 by the Federation of Small 老九品茶es (FSB), the company has since grown its team and solidified partnerships with the likes of Home Group and the RAF鈥檚 innovation hub, RAFX.听
Its shortlisting for the Rising Stars competition comes at an exciting time for the company as it kicks off the year with an investment round, aiming to raise 拢500,000 by April 2021.听
Discova will also begin a number of high-profile contracts and is set to host the Newcastle鈥檚 first mental health conference of its kind, Discova X Con on Thursday August 12th 2021, with panellists that includes Ex-Premier League football star Clarke Carlisle. The event will also give Discova the chance to reveal its fully formed application.听
With proud roots in the North East of England, Discova鈥檚 founders have a passion for the region and its burgeoning tech community.听
Hodcroft听added: 鈥淚鈥檓 proud to be able to wake up each morning and commit my focus, time and energy to something that is bringing good into the world.听
鈥淭o do this while representing the North East makes me even prouder. The North East is all too often overlooked when it comes to start-ups and tech so I am really happy that I can do my bit to bring attention to this region.鈥�听
Rising Stars 3.0 finalists听
budibase, Belfast听
Founders: Michael Shanks, Martin听McKeaveney, Joseph Johnston听
Founded: 2019听
Size of team: 5听听
Building custom software for your business in minutes, without coding,听Budibase听is an open source,听nocode听platform used for building web applications, to digitise your business. Small to medium sized businesses and digital consultants use听Budibase听to build and host apps, or for supporting their self-hosted deployments.听
CGHero, Manchester听
Founders: Jonathan Lloyd, Chris Lawrence听
Founded: 2016听
Size of team: 16听听
CGHero听is a collaborative marketplace for 3D & CGI content creation, bringing together the world’s top talent to work on feature productions across gaming, architecture, TV & film, automotive and retail. The platform has been used by the likes of Valvoline, Sega, B&Q, Unilever, and NHS.听
Define, London听
Founders: Nnamdi听Emelifeonwu, Feargus听MacDaeid听
Founded: 2017听
Size of team: 10听听
Drafting made simple,听Define听optimises the contract drafting and reviewing process by allowing users to quickly access key information (namely all defined terms and references) in legal documents without ever having to leave the provision they are working on and lose their context of review. Define acts as a risk management tool and efficiency software that helps lawyers save time when working on legal documents.听
Discova, Newcastle听
Founders: Lizzy听Hodcroft, Emma Reilly听
Founded: 2018听
Size of team: 4听
Created by founders with lived experience, Discova delivers personalised support and interventions for better employee and team mental health and wellbeing. Discova empowers employees to take positive action quickly through tailored action plans, adjusting the support and guidance received based on individual areas of focus, learning style and personality.听
e-Surgery, Norwich听
Founders: Thuri Wenbar, Oskar Wendowski听
Founded: 2017听
Size of team: 12听
e-Surgery is the UK鈥檚 leading prescribing service and sustainable online pharmacy. Patients simply need to go to their website, choose the treatment they need, fill in a simple health questionnaire and wait for next day delivery in discreet recyclable and biodegradable packaging. They’re a private healthcare provider radically proving the idea that private healthcare can be affordable and that these efficiencies can be made available for the masses.听
Elemental, Derry听
Founders: Leeann Monk-Ozgul, Jennifer Neff听
Founded: 2013听
Size of team: 30听听
Elemental is an award-winning tech for good company with the purpose of empowering and enabling individuals, families and their carers to better connect into community-based programmes, services and interventions that make a positive impact on their lives. Through an innovative digital platform, it provides teams with the technical connectivity they need for multi-sector partnership working, leadership, and the measurement of mobilisation of support where needed.听
eLocker, Derby听
Founders: Jacob Hinson, Mark Hinson听
Founded: 2013听
Size of team: 8听听
Locker management made easy, eLocker connects Bluetooth enabled locks to the internet via an IoT gateway. Already working with Amazon, DHL and Kuehne and Nagel, it鈥檚 the world’s first wirelessly managed locker solution.听
felloh!, Grantham听
Founders: Claire Lowry-Hubball, William Bicknell, Ujwal Bhagwat听
Founded: 2020听
Size of team: 4听
felloh! is a payments platform for good which cuts costs and does good with every payment. By embedding payments and banking into client’s journeys, they improve customer experience, simplify reconciliation and innovate to improve profitability whilst embedding giving to good causes into the business model.听
Glimpse Protocol, Winchester听
Founders: Alasdair Macdonald, Tim Holmes-Mitra, Mark Stoter听
Founded: 2019听
Size of team: 4听
A revolutionary advertising platform with privacy at its core, Glimpse Protocol have invented a new data model to allow online businesses to reach precise consumer audiences, while protecting consumer privacy and without using any third-party data sources. They offer an ethical, compliant and efficient ad marketplace for advertisers and publishers.听
Hyper, Leeds听
Founders: Thomas Hill, Adam Barrowcliff, Damon Bryan, Peter Denby听
Founded: 2016听
Size of team: 9听听
The data science brain for customer-led retail decisions, Hyper enables retailers to use AI and data science to improve marketing, merchandising and supply chain performance. Through its cloud-based data platform, proprietary AI engine and intuitive user interface, Hyper gives non-technical people access to powerful insights, helping them make decisions which increase customer loyalty and profits.听
Jobseekrs, Manchester听
Founders: Jamaal Brathwaite听
Founded: 2017听
Size of team: 2听
Jobseekrs is a careers platform that mitigates unconscious bias at the sourcing and screening stage of recruitment to increase diversity and inclusion and to decrease churn. The jobseekrs algorithm matches a candidate to a potential employer based on skill set and culture alignment, producing an overall percentage fit score which is presented to the employer anonymously. The employer then purchases credits to reveal and engage with candidates.听
LiberEat, Aberdeen听
Founders: Barry Leaper, Louise Cahill听
Founded: 2016听
Size of team: 5听听
LiberEat makes life easier for people with dietary restrictions. It provides bespoke menus, supermarket grocery options, and recipes to users with options filtered by their requirements, helping businesses such as restaurants and supermarkets become more accessible, and providing useful analytics and insights. It has the potential to seriously reduce harm from food allergies.听
Okkulo, Newcastle听
Founders: Abu Ali, Mark Westerhof, Owen McFarlane, Peter Atkinson听
Founded: 2018听
Size of team: 2听听
Okkulo is a sports training system that uses unique light levels to recalibrate the visual system, allowing the athlete to improve their reaction time, motion perception and depth perception above and beyond their current levels. The Okkulo technology can be used across a broad spectrum of sports such as football, baseball, basketball, tennis and even F1.听
PORT.im, Brighton听
Founders: Dan Eltis, Julian Saunders, Piyush Shah听
Founded: 2015听
Size of team: 3听
PORT.im is transforming the way businesses manage privacy. The end-to-end service manages all aspects of privacy from the website through to the compliance documentation. Recognising that privacy is an area fraught with difficulties for businesses, PORT.im is on a mission to help businesses build trust with their customers and comply with the regulations.听
RoleMapper, Exeter听
Founders: Sara Hill听
Founded: 2019听
Size of team: 6听听
How jobs are designed and job descriptions are created is critical to attracting and retaining talent, but the process for designing jobs is broken, manual and disconnected. RoleMapper helps organisations to design and manage jobs, and create great job descriptions that increase hiring diversity and workforce flexibility.听
Selazar, Belfast听
Founders: Kevan Bishonden, Jack Williams, Gareth Burns听
Founded: 2014听
Size of team: 21听听
Selazar is a tech-first company automating retailers’ entire eCommerce operation through its single fulfilment platform. Selazar automatically picks, packs, stores and ships products with up to a 40% saving compared to other fulfilment providers. The end-to-end solution encompasses stock management, deliveries and returns for the retailer allowing them to scale their business without the heavy lifting.听
SupplyWell, Liverpool听
Founders: Raina Heverin, Michael Heverin, Dan Price听
Founded: 2017听
Size of team: 3听
SupplyWell is a digital recruitment solution putting control in the hands of teachers and schools. It connects teachers and schools together directly removing the need for slow and costly traditional agencies, which allows teachers to earn more while schools pay less and ensure that wellbeing comes as standard.听
Vimma, London听
Founders: Outi Pietilanaho, Mykhailo Loginov听听
Founded: 2018听
Size of team: 4听听
Vimma is building a productivity suite for passion entrepreneurs. Its app helps bloggers, vloggers and content creators manage their day-to-day business with simple tasks and processes. Vimma has over 20,000 registered users, and users have completed over 2 million productivity tasks with its app.听
Worldr, Slough听
Founders: Dmitry Maskaliou, Max Buchan听
Founded: 2019听
Size of team: 10听听
Worldr is a privacy and security focused alternative to Slack. They deploy into large organisations who are not able to use third-party communication tools because of the threat they represent to data security. Worldr combines the usability of cutting-edge communication with the security of an in-house application.听
Yoello, Cardiff听
Founders: Sina Yamani听
Founded: 2017听
Size of team: 36听听
Yoello is an app-less hospitality payment platform that allows customers to simply scan, order and pay. Utilising new open banking legislation to cut out the middleman and bring merchants and customers closer together, they connect to banks directly to initiate funds between consumer and merchants, saving businesses 75% on transaction fees. They鈥檙e supporting thousands of UK businesses, enabling them to reopen and operate in the new age of post-lockdown technology-led service.听听