Hull MedTech start-up secures £1.2m to scale-up 'music as medicine' innovation

Hull-based MediMusic uses artificial intelligence to compile personalised playlists that have been proven in NHS trials to ease stress in dementia patients.

The company secured £200,000 from Finance Yorkshire, along with also recieving funding from the University of Hull, Sauce Consultants Limited and private investors.

MediMusic CEO and co-founder Gary Jones spent seven years developing the platform.

Speaking of the latest investment, he said: “This will take MediMusic to the next level.

"We passionately believe this will be a real game-changer in how we treat dementia patients and people suffering from pain, anxiety and stress.

“MediMusic has managed to digitally fingerprint the DNA of music so we can deliver the right songs as medicine, you could say it’s a musical pharmaceutical.

"Our initial clinical trials prove it has a very encouraging future in the treatment of patients.”

Medimusic has created an app and streaming device called MediBeat that dispenses personalised playlists.

The technology can be used in hospitals, dental surgeries and care homes to manage chronic pain or support patients before and after operations.

Initial clinical NHS trials at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust found the use of MediMusic led to a reduction in heart rate of up to 22 per cent in patients with dementia during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Finance Yorkshire was established in 2010 to provide gap finance through debt and equity investments to SMEs across Yorkshire and Humber.

Its new fund provides investment packages to SMEs based or moving to areas within Yorkshire and Humber with ambitions to expand, create jobs and improve productivity.

Finance Yorkshire’s new fund is expected to provide £50m to SMEs over five years.

It has been structured to provide a range of support through Seedcorn and Growth Fund (primarily equity) investments, along with large and small Business Loans.

Alex McWhirter, chief executive of Finance Yorkshire, said: “MediMusic has developed highly innovative healthcare technology that could transform the way we treat people.

“Our new fund is designed to support innovative and disruptive start-ups like MediMusic to scale up, realise their potential and create jobs in Yorkshire and the Humber.

We look forward to supporting the MediMusic team on the next stage of this exciting journey.”

Finance Yorkshire’s fund provides four main products, structured to back businesses through multiple stages of growth: Micro-Loans, Business Loans, Growth Fund (loans and equity) and Seedcorn.

The new, sustainable fund has been created from the legacy finance available from Finance Yorkshire’s previous support for SMEs alongside legacy finance from the former South Yorkshire Investment Fund (SYIF).

Finance Yorkshire’s previous investments created and safeguarded more than 16,000 jobs, enabling those businesses to increase their turnover by a total of £474m and attract a further £374m from private sector sources.