Three female business leaders from the North East have won Government-backed support to develop their firms. Innovate UK has selected 100 women for its new Women in Innovation cohort, each receiving a £75,000 grant plus a 12-month package of business support.
The programme supports business leaders across sectors including manufacturing, digital tech, and life sciences, with companies around the UK receiving backing. In the North East, the successful applicants are Kate Murray from County Durham firm Ubrix, Lou Willis-Keeler from Saltburn-based Souuthe, and Suzanne Vernazza, a Newcastle physio who has developed technology for pelvic floor health.
Ubrix tackling construction fragmentation
Ubrix aims to address fragmentation in the construction sector, where sales, build, and aftercare typically run on disconnected systems. Its software platform provides housebuilders, principal contractors, housing associations, and local authorities with a single platform for the full lifecycle of each building plot.
Founder and CEO Kate Murray said: "This recognition is big news for Ubrix, but it is bigger news for housing. A national panel of innovation experts looked at how this industry delivers homes, saw the cost of fragmented systems, and backed our answer to it.
"Our development pipeline is shaped by the builders, contractors and aftercare teams who live this problem every day. This award tells them the way housing is delivered is changing, and it tells the industry where that change is coming from."
Pelvic health app and stress relief device
Suzanne Vernazza, who has built a sizeable social media following, has been backed to further develop an app to support pelvic health. She launched the Know Your Floors not-for-profit organisation in 2021 and has posted hundreds of "squeeze along" videos on platforms like TikTok to encourage regular pelvic health exercises.
She said: "This funding is transformational for the project. It allows us to move from an idea with strong clinical foundations and community support to a properly tested, launch-ready product.
"We'll be able to work alongside beta testers, refine the experience, and carefully validate the AI-supported information feature so we're building something that is not only innovative, but clinically robust and worthy of people's trust."
Lou Willis-Keeler founded Souuthe after more than 25 years working in safeguarding, seeing a lack of tools to help people regulate their emotions. The company has developed a device that calms the body's stress response for people in palliative, dementia, and child care.
