Souuthe, a start-up developing calming technology for people living with dementia or receiving palliative care, has been awarded a £75,000 grant as part of Innovate UK’s largest-ever Women in Innovation cohort. The funding will be used to support clinical testing and the regulatory approval process ahead of planned trials with hospices and NHS trusts.
From personal loss to product development
The company was founded by Lou Willis-Keeler, a former NSPCC child protection manager, whose personal experience of losing four family members within a year shaped the project. She says she witnessed a heavy reliance on medication to manage anxiety and agitation in end-of-life care and began developing a non-pharmaceutical solution nine years ago.
"It's rooted in my own experience of loss, and how much reliance there still is on medication as the only answer to anxiety in end-of-life care."
Souuthe’s technology is built into familiar tactile objects such as teddy bears and cushions. It is designed to replicate elements of a human hug that research shows can be physiologically calming — from encouraging the release of feel-good chemicals to helping regulate heart rate — and is intended to sit alongside, not replace, existing care provision.
What the Innovate UK award means
The grant is part of a wider cohort which recognised 100 women, of whom 61 award winners received the £75,000 grants after a competitive process that attracted 1,590 applicants. Winners also receive 12 months of tailored business support from Innovate UK, including training, networking and mentoring.
For Souuthe, the immediate priorities for the cash are clear: fund clinical testing to build evidence of efficacy and safety, and progress the regulatory approvals necessary for trials in clinical settings such as hospices and NHS trusts. That pathway is crucial if the technology is to be procured by health and social care providers.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Applicants | 1,590 |
| Women recognised | 100 |
| Grant winners receiving £75,000 | 61 |
Beyond the immediate product development benefits, the award carries intangible value: it validates years of development work and opens doors to networks and expertise that early-stage healthcare technology firms often lack. Willis-Keeler has also highlighted the personal barriers she has faced as a neurodivergent founder with dyslexia, ADHD and Tourette syndrome when seeking funding and translating a vision into formal business plans.
Implications for care, jobs and procurement
The funding and support could accelerate Souuthe’s move from prototype toward clinical deployment. If trials with hospices and NHS trusts prove the devices reduce reliance on medication for anxiety and agitation, commissioners and providers may consider them as part of non-pharmacological care bundles. That could affect prescribing patterns, budgets for care homes and hospice procurement, and the labour of frontline carers who manage distressing symptoms.
- For wages: adoption of device-based calming aids may change care tasks but there is no immediate evidence in the source about job creation or redundancies.
- For prices: successful regulatory approval would be a precondition to product pricing and wider purchasing; the grant helps bridge those costly stages.
- For jobs and suppliers: scaling production and clinical trials could create manufacturing and clinical research roles if the business progresses as planned.
Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation programme is positioning itself as a national lever for early-stage ventures tackling diverse challenges from healthcare to net zero and supply-chain resilience. For firms in the health technology space, the combination of non-dilutive funding and tailored support can be decisive in navigating costly regulatory and clinical proof requirements.
Souuthe’s trajectory will now depend on the outcomes of the clinical testing and regulatory steps that the grant is intended to support. If those prove favourable, the business could move towards trials with hospices and NHS trusts and begin the process of wider adoption in settings where reducing medication-led management of anxiety is a stated priority.
The award also highlights ongoing debates about how best to fund and scale innovations in social care — a sector where non-medical interventions often promise benefits but require robust evidence and procurement pathways before they alter frontline practice or budgets.
