SealStop: Yorkshire firm behind valve made to eliminate water waste wins ‘game changing’ £60,000 grant
The firm behind an automatic shut-off valve designed to eliminate water waste and save gardeners’ time, has won a “game-changing” grant of £60,000.
SealStop, which is now sold across six countries, was invented by Yorkshire farmers Jason and Belle Richardson of Pocklington.
The £60,000 grant comes as part of the Great Ideas innovation programme under the Mayor of York and North Yorkshire’s Business Innovation Fund Business Innovation Fund.
It comes after eligible local businesses pitched projects to secure up to £60,000 to implement their ideas. SealStop’s triumph was featured on BBC-1’s The One Show on Monday night.
Belle Richardson said: “This is game-changing for us. I’m still processing the fact we’ve won. It seems unreal, pitching our ideas against some of the brightest young businesses in Yorkshire, being filmed by the BBC’s One Show – and winning. Saving water has never been so important. It has been predicted that, by 2050, there will be a five billion litre water shortfall daily in the UK. Meanwhile the Government, realising this potential water crisis, has set a 20 per cent reduction target for household water use.”