MedTech startup, Fyous, open third funding round
- Reaching a £10m valuation in just over two years, Fyous have opened a third seed funding round
- The NHS currently spends almost £1 billion a year on diabetic foot care, with custom shoes costing upwards of £700
- Fyous make custom-fit footwear at mass-manufacturing speed using their unique polymorphic moulding technology. Prices start at £250.
- Named 2022 startup of the year, Manufacturing and Engineering, Fyous have their sights on both the public sector and direct-to-consumer markets with two new product launches
Following multiple award wins and two new product launches, Fyous, the MedTech startup revolutionising custom footwear, has opened its third seed funding round.
Reaching a £10-million valuation in just over two years, Fyous are focused on applying their unique technology to NHS diabetes care in a bid to reduce costs and save lives.
The NHS currently spends almost £1 billion a year on diabetic foot care for the 4.9 million diabetics in the UK — enough to fund 25 million additional GP appointments.
With a five-year mortality rate of 40% for diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) and the number of diabetes sufferers set to increase to 5.5 million by 2030, finding affordable and effective treatment options is a public health priority.
“Following healing from an active DFU it is imperative to provide appropriate footwear. Current manufacturing techniques mean that a patient can have a waiting period of a few months before they are provided with bespoke provision. Recurrence rates following a DFU are significant, and any wait period could lead to re-ulceration of the patient" explains Orthotist Sarah Crossland of the Diabetic Limb Salvage Service at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust.
Named 2022 Startup of the Year, manufacturing and engineering, and winner of the Made in Yorkshire Award, Fyous has already received more than £600,000 in funding and been accepted onto both the Jump and P4SY MedTech accelerator programmes.
With MHRA clinical trial approval immiment, multiple NHS trusts are lining up to start clinical trials following positive feedback on the footwear from patients and their Consultants.
Co-Founder and CEO Joshua Shires, the founder behind £30m-revenue Mous Products Ltd, believes that Fyous has the potential to redefine medical footwear and the industry more broadly.
“Fyous allows the NHS to deliver better care, faster, and for less than half the price. We’re not just making shoes — we’re reinventing the market, changing how custom made, medical footwear is perceived”.
To create the custom-fit trainers, patients and customers use the Fyous app to scan each foot, creating millions of data points.
Frustrated by the speed of 3D printing, which can take seven hours to make a single shoe component, the duo used their engineering backgrounds to develop their unique polymorphic moulding process which is around 50 times faster than 3D printing.
A closely guarded trade secret, the mould can quickly change shape for every piece of footwear, allowing Fyous to deliver a custom-fit product at mass-manufacturing speed with ultra low waste.
Alongside their medical-industry focused trainer, the brand has just launched a “Barefit” shoe for the direct-to-consumer market. With less cushioning and a zero-drop base, it’s designed to help wearers transition into the growing minimalist footwear movement.
“There’s no such thing as ‘standard shoe sizes’ — everyone’s feet are unique”, explains Co-Founder and COO Thomas Bloomfield. “Our unique polymorphic moulding process and foot scanning technology means we can create footwear that fits perfectly first time, every time. It’s the next evolution of the footwear industry, and we’re excited to be leading the way”.
Currently valued at £10 million, the pair are seeking a further £1 million in funding to accelerate their growth into both the public and private sectors. Interested investors can find out more at Fyous.com and contact Thomas Bloomfield.
NOTES TO EDITORS
FYOUS BACKGROUND
Press packs and images can be found in the Fyous Press Centre.
- Fyous was founded in October 2020 by Thomas Bloomfield and Joshua Shires
- Using their unique polymorphic moulding and 3D foot-scanning technology, Fyous manufacture affordable, custom-fit footwear in minutes, not months.
- The name Fyous (pronounced Fuse) was chosen to emphasise the custom fit: the shoes fuse to your feet and “you” is at the centre of the brand name.
- Based in Sheffield, all shoes are manufactured in the UK by the Fyous team from renewable sources with an ultra low waste manufacturing process.
- Fyous is part of two accelerator programmes: Jump and P4SY.
FYOUS AWARDS
- 2022 Startup of the Year, Startup Awards, National Series, Midlands Final
- Made in Yorkshire Awards by Insider Media, Digital Engineering & Technology Award
- Currently shortlisted for the national Made in the UK awards
- Listed in Insider Media’s Top 50 Most Exciting Companies in Yorkshire & the Humber
- Listed in the South Yorkshire Tech 100
FYOUS FOUNDERS
- Joshua Shires: A Mechanical Engineer by training, Joshua has founded several multi-million-pound-revenue companies, including Mous Products which achieved £30 million revenue in four years. He’s the Co-Founder and CEO of Fyous, leading on the technical development.
- Thomas Bloomfield: Also a Mechanical Engineer, this is Thomas’s second venture in partnership with Joshua after his role as COO for the £3.7m-revenue Itch HK Ltd. With years of business development experience within the engineering and tech industries, Thomas focuses on the commercial side of Fyous.
DIABETES STATISTICS AND SOURCES
- 9 million people in the UK have diabetes (Diabetes UK).
- This is expected to rise to 5.5 million by 2030 (Diabetes UK), a 12% increase.
- The NHS spends at least £10 billion a year on diabetes which is about 10% of its entire budget (Diabetes UK).
- 10% of that, or 1% of the total NHS budget, is spent on diabetic foot ulcers and amputations (PubMed).
- At least £1 in every £140 of NHS spending going towards foot care for people with diabetes (Diabetes UK).
- The average GP appointment costs £39.40 (The King’s Fund). Taking the above £1bn spend on footcare and dividing it by this appointment costs means spend on diabetic foot care is the monetary equivalent of 25 million GP appointments.
- There’s a 10% lifetime risk of someone with diabetes developing a foot ulcer (Diabetes UK). Applied to the 4.9 million people with diabetes means 490,000 will develop a foot ulcer at some point in their lifetime.
- The five-year mortality rate for diabetic foot ulcers is 40% (PubMed). Applied to the above prevalence rates, 196,000 of ulcer patients will die within 5 years. Averaged across a five-year period, that is 40,000 lives a year lost in the UK.
- Reducing the prevalence of diabetic foot ulcers by a third would deliver annual savings of £250 million (PubMed).