15th April 2020
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, a great deal of our Crowd2Fund businesses have responded to government led-efforts to in defeating the virus. We have showcased only five of many, and we thank our entrepreneurs for their efforts and hope that they inspire many more initiatives.
Titanium Dioxide lights that kill COVID-19 - Adrian Ladds, founder of Power On Demand
Our long-standing client, Power on Demand raised money with us to expand their solar energy company. They recently approached us with their new licensed TiO2 LED product that kills the airborne and surface-based COVID-19.
They are now looking to perform UK based tests for installation of these LEDs, which are coated with a special chemical called Titanium Dioxide or TiO2. These lights will be installed indoors in areas at high risk of contamination.
The TiO2 panels are an extremely effective biocide for both bacteria and viruses and have been readily adopted by governments. There are many research papers from the University of Tokyo — who discovered the properties of TiO2 — to show how it actually works. Viricidal testing was done in the US by a laboratory approved by the FDA and showed a 99.99% elimination rate.
Emergency protective equipment - Hugh Clow, director of Planks
With the goal to grow their ski clothing equipment company, Planks have done multiple rounds of funding via the Crowd2Fund platform. They have now pivoted their South East Asian supply chain to sourcing personal protective equipment (PPE) to meet any additional demand the UK government has.
At home with designing protective equipment for free-ride skiers, they are currently focused on sourcing the PPE products from factories around Asia – creating a vital lifeline for government procurement processes if needed. They are also considering adapting their ski gear clothing into a highly durable and reusable heavy-duty personal protective equipment, supporting our front-line health workers who are at the highest risk of exposure.
Manufactured parts for ventilators - Richard Preston, director of NDT Equipment Supplies
Established in 1990, NDT Equipment Supplies has become the largest supplier of ultrasound equipment in Europe. The UK business has now turned its hand from delivering the highly technical ultrasound equipment to delivering similar parts for ventilators, in collaboration with larger engineering companies such as AMG and McLaren.
They are looking to manufacture precision parts for the ventilators using their machine-tooling and milling machines. They are also looking further afield to support African manufacturers if required further down the line, due to the massive shortage of ventilators in developing countries.
Prefabricated medical isolation units - Ian Strangward, founder of Architectural Wallsz
Used to developing internal meeting rooms for offices, Ian and his firm Architectural Wallsz have switched their skills to isolation units. Based in Alvechurch, Worcestershire, his team invented DIRRT — an isolation unit with an incredible production time of 10 days for 500 isolation units.
It’s a building process powered by technology and advanced manufacturing. Walls, doors, power, and medical gas are all rapidly designed and built with extreme precision in the DIRTT factories. They are now turning their attention to the demand in the US.
Finally, a potential treatment for COVID-19 from one of our Investors
One of our investors is involved with a pharmaceutical product, contacted us about a UK-owned and manufactured drug that has shown promising results according to recently conducted tests in Italy. This fledgeling COVID-19 treatment is called SYLVANT®. SYLVANT has the capability to stop the body’s autoimmune response reaction, potentially reducing the number of patients that need mechanical ventilation. While still early, we hope to hear continued positive progress.
As we all know, everything is happening incredibly quickly and changing every day. We are incredibly proud of what our community are doing during this crisis to provide solutions for the challenges thrown by the dreadful COVID-19 virus.
At Crowd2Fund, we will support you and your business’s efforts to help; assist in channelling them to the correct government departments, and provide financial support if needed to ensure these solutions get reviewed and procured by the right teams – your efforts are needed and invaluable.
Contact us to let us know what can you do to help the fight on info@crowd2fund.com
