Yorkshire Forward Access to Finance for Healthcare Technologies Programme

The Yorkshire Forward Access to Finance for Healthcare Technologies (YFAFHT) is an investment readiness programme established by Yorkshire Forward to assist companies in the Health Technology sectors.  The programme addresses three key factors relevant to the Yorkshire and Humber region:

  • the opportunity to develop investment markets, especially for companies in complex and challenging markets such as healthcare; 
  • the opportunity to engage talented business support professionals able to provide advice and guidance on raising finance in general and especially in this sector; and
  • a shortage of existing successfully venture backed companies to act as role models, explain the process and showcase the benefits.

The programme is scheduled to run for an initial period of three years and is delivered by a consortium of three companies, led by Grant Thornton UK LLP, and including Quotec and BiteCIC.  The delivery partners have extensive experience in developing and delivering investment readiness programmes, including the highly successful Gateway to Investment (g2i) multi-sector programme in London .

Companies participating in the programme will receive ongoing support and assistance, going through a structured programme starting with a recruitment and induction phase, followed by a Market and Technology Assessment, Investment Readiness Workshop, Mentoring, and Investor Introductions.

Participation in the various stages of the programme is dependent on an individual company's circumstances and where it is in its growth cycle.  The programme has been designed to be flexible, and companies can enter at an appropriate point.

It should be noted that not all companies will go all the way through the programme, it will be dependent on the opportunity for the company.  There is, however, value for every company as they will receive professional feed-back and information on their opportunity.  Experience has shown that companies gain the most value from clearly structured engagements with clear expectations set, professional management and direct interaction with world class sector and business experts, all of which is provided by the delivery partners.

Eligibility

The programme is aimed at assisting Yorkshire and Humber based companies and entrepreneurs in the Healthcare Technology sectors, which includes Biotechnology, medical device, pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals.  It will help these companies with their investment management activities:

The Pharmaceutical industry and related areas including Chemical and Biological drugs

The Medical device industry with areas including:

  • Surgical instruments
  • Implantable devices
  • Medical and assistive equipment
  • Prosthetics and orthotics (including surgical instrumentation,  orthopaedics and advanced woundcare)

Nutraceuticals, with areas including:

  • Vitamins
  • Minerals
  • Herbal remedies
  • Functional Foods
  • Medical Foods

'Red Bio', biotechnology applied to medical processes, including:

  • Biopharmaceuticals
  • Diagnostics
  • Vaccines
  • Therapies (including gene therapy)

The programme is available to all businesses classed as Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which are those companies with an annual turnover of not more than €40 million, and 250 employees.  They may be start-up, early stage or established companies.

For more information about the programme, please visit http://www.investinginhealth.co.uk.