Anubis II Case Study: NutraTech
Having been awarded £10,000 to invest in technology, all the winning companies took an innovative idea and weaved it into their businesses. Here is a summary of their successes thanks to the ANUBIS funding.
Thanks to funding from the ANUBIS business competition, the company behind an online and mobile phone weight management service is investing in the expansion of its database which will help it enter new markets and offer new products.
Nutratech, which is based at Nottingham University’s Science and Technology Park, has created the “Nutracheck” brand. Its three enterprising directors have turned the business into a fast growth operation which hopes to quadruple its turnover this financial year.
Innovation and enterprise are at the commercial heart of the services it offers. It has recently introduced alcoholic labelling of products in its database. This follows a national health initiative to inform consumers about the recommended weekly allowance of alcohol in a bid to curb excessive drinking.
Nutratech’s success was founded on the use of mobile phone technology to provide dietary information on over 30,000 UK food and drink products to customers. The business went on to exploit the huge commercial opportunities for an online service which is now the main trust of its business.
Less than 2 years ago, the company was seeking external funding to help grow the business. A pivotal moment in the company’s history came when the directors went on an 8 week course to prepare for pitching to investors for private funding. Without having done this, the directors believe the company would not have achieved the progress it has made to date.
Nutratech boasts www.bootsdiets.com and www.mirrorslimmingclub.co.uk among a list of 15 weight management websites in its portfolio making it the largest supplier of online diet services in the UK.
Its database has been compiled by extrapolating manufacturers’ food and drink data, and uses a unique search system using the last four digits of a product bar code.
This has created the only food and drink database in the UK which links bar codes with nutritional information, soon to include on salt, sugar, saturated fat, fibre, protein, and carbohydrate content.
Nutratech’s success hasn’t gone unnoticed in the press. BBC Radio 4, BBC Working Lunch, as well as Wall Street Journal, The Sun, The Daily Mirror have all covered the success of the service, and the company behind it. Consumer and women’s interest magazines have also covered stories with coverage in publications like Grazia, Now, Woman and Wedding magazine.
Two of the company directors previously worked together at Boots. Both worked on high profile consumer projects for the high street retailer. Rachel Hartley, who has a degree in food and nutrition, had responsibility for the product development of the Boots Shapers lunchtime food and drink range and Tim Vryenhoef, the company’s managing director, managed the Boots Advantage Card.
“The funding from ANUBIS means we can accelerate our strategy to expand our database as a dedicated project rather than juggle it with other projects vying for our time and resources.
Our objective is to turn our innovative project into the UK’s most comprehensive food and nutrition database. Consumers will be able to make more informed decisions about their nutritional needs on the back of this innovation.”
Nutratech director Rachel Hartley
This project will enable the company to recruit more staff. They hope to employ up to six new part time personnel to assist in data collection and processing as well as the appointment of a technical developer to implement new product services.
Anubis Winner's Link: visit the NutraTech website
