A Cheshire-based smart plug developer, which failed to attract backing on BBC Two show Dragons' Den, has secured investment from a health insurance company.
Westfield Health has become the first strategic investor in 3rings, based in Congleton and Oxford, and is supporting the commercial rollout of the 3rings technology.
In this seed round, Westfield Health has invested more than double the funding that 3rings had unsuccessfully attempted to raise on Dragons' Den. The Dragons had been asked to invest £300,000 in exchange for a 10 per cent share of the business in a show broadcast in August 2015.
Westfield Health will offer the 3rings Internet of Things smart plug and cloud service to existing and new customers. 3rings first caught the attention of the Westfield Health team when technology entrepreneur Steve Purdham appeared on Dragons' Den alongside his 84-year-old mum Iris to deliver the pitch.
Steve Purdham, 3rings co-founder said: "Our partnership with Westfield Health goes beyond the financial investment and we will be working together on innovative product development and distribution to take 3rings and family social care to its next phase.
"The Internet of Things offers tremendous opportunities to help our ageing population to stay independent for longer and reduce the pressure on families. Within the next five years 50 billion objects will be connected to the internet and while technology should never replace real contact with family members, it can have an immense supporting role."
With a consumer launch in April 2015, the 3rings smartplug connects household appliances such as a kettle or TV with a cloud messaging platform to provide reassuring updates about routine use. It alerts family members when there could be a problem via a smartphone app, email, text or automated calls.
David Capper, commercial director at Westfield Health, said: "We immediately saw the potential in the 3rings concept and it sits well with our long-term innovation plans.
"There is an emerging market for smart technology to support health, wellbeing and family care. The UK population is getting older and many of our customers are in the 'sandwich generation' - balancing work commitments, with caring for older family members and looking after their own children - 3rings technology has the potential to help.
"This is our first major external investment of this type. As well as assisting us in broadening our service portfolio it supports our ethos of helping people at every stage of their lives."
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