WheelRight

New ‘business angel’ investors

WheelRight originated as a private start-up in 2004 and is currently located at the Begbroke Science Park in Oxfordshire. The company has developed “Rightstrip”, a sensory pad technology that monitors tyre pressure and which can be used to assess a large quantity of vehicles both efficiently and effectively. Use of Rightstrip can drastically reduce fuel consumption, tyre wear and associated breakdowns. The company estimates that if all vehicles in the UK were operating under the correct tyre pressure it would cut the UK annual fuel bill by £500m and carbon emissions by over 500,000 tonnes.

The company, as long standing members of the Oxford Investment Opportunity Network (OION), presented through the networks showcase at Venturefest in 2007 and as a result of that presentation recruited two new business angel investors. They joined with the existing shareholders (four directors and seven business angels) in raising £130K toward the £400K of matched funding that the company needed in order to access the now-awarded DTI/SEEDA Development Grant. The funds raised will support technical development to the stage where the company will have its first devices under trial with major customers. And since the Venturefest 2007 presentation, WheelRight has experienced significant growth with both staff employed and turnover doubling.