Forte Medical is thrilled to have reached a £239,980 investment through CrowdCube.

“The fundraising process with CrowdCube was simple, straightforward, effective and quick,” says Giovanna Forte, our CEO. “After dealing with so-called investment brokers who demand fees and then raise no investment at all, with Angel Groups who dismissed our opportunity in a nano-second and VCs who rarely dignified an enquiry with a response, CrowdCube has been a breath of fresh air. Every member of the Team who looked after us was responsive, encouraging, supportive and efficient. I can’t recommend them highly enough to fundraising SMEs. ”

Investment raising has been tough; pre-Covid Forte Medical was on the brink of a £1m investment with an Angel syndicate. When our revenues disappeared along with the suspension of point of care testing in March 2020, so did the Syndicate. There followed a period of engagement with various fundraising entities, including snake-oil “brokers” who charge an upfront fee but achieve nothing.

“The last three years have been incredibly difficult,” adds Giovanna. “It is thanks entirely to our loyal shareholders that we have been able to remodel the business, welcome the return of our traditional market and say a Big Hello to start-ups heralding the emerging tech market of remote, digital UTI diagnostics that require an accurate specimen from which to produce their near-instant diagnostic analyses.”

Our Fortetude has kept us working through thick and thin and we are now poised to grow and reward shareholders existing and new, with healthy returns.

Nietzsche  may not have alluded to businesses with his famous quote, but it couldn’t be more apposite: Out of life’s school of war—what doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger.

Forte Medical is delighted to learn of the new NHS Value Based Procurement programme. This welcome initiative presents a transformed procurement landscape for Peezy Midstream, the evidence-based device that is shown to significantly reduce retesting and false positives sent unnecessarily to the lab, whilst improving analysis, diagnosis and treatment for women’s urological and prenatal point of care screening.

Peezy Mistream is designed also to improve patient care, infection control, reduced antibiotic prescribing … and better financial health for our NHS.

On which note, it is encouraging to read that no longer will a race to the cheapest priced product be the basis of assessment of value, with some reference to environmental impact, business model and supply chain resilience. The coming new dawn will, for the first time in years, see patient experiences and outcomes at the heart of the process.

Products that improve those outcomes will be scored higher, even if their price is higher – something which is hardly surprising for better, innovative products – and there will also be score boosts for those products that reduce relapses and so remove steps from the patient pathway, saving clinical time and freeing up resources, and so reducing overall system costs.

Read the full story at MedTech Insights from Whitehouse Communications.

When Dr Vincent Forte asked a female patient for a urine sample, she returned to his surgery with a wet bottle and red face. Vincent took her issues seriously … and invented Peezy Midstream, the only urine collection device in the world that captures a reliable clean-catch sample leaving the patient with clean, dry hands and dignity intact. Moreover, clinical outcomes for Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) are significantly improved, unnecessary prescribing is reduced … and patients love the hygiene and dignity.

Hear what Vincent has to say in this short film.

Film credit: Luto Research

“With between 15 and 20% of cases in high income countries being caused by urinary tract infection, and with resistance to first-line treatment among the most common urinary pathogens running as high as 50% in some regions, any product which improves diagnostic accuracy will not only improve outcomes for individual patients but is also likely to help us counter the threat of AMR,” says Dr Ron Daniels BEM, Founder and joint CEO of The Sepsis Trust.

“Sepsis is a condition responsible for 1 in 5 deaths worldwide. Sepsis is the final common pathway to death from most infectious diseases. It is intrinsically interlinked with antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and lack of diagnostic accuracy hampers efforts not only to treat sepsis but also to deliver responsible antimicrobial stewardship.”

Evidence based Peezy Midstream is one of these devices.  Designed by Dr Vincent Forte, NHS GP for over 20 years, Forensic Physician and medical author to improve women’s urological health it enjoyed ten years of rigorous R&D before entering the market in 2015, generating significant excellent evidence around reduced retesting, reduced prescribing and transformed patient outcomes. #notjustaproduct!

The Entrepreneur’s Network/Beauhurst Accelerate to Excel report highlights the woeful 2% of investment reaching female founders.

Female-founded businesses often last longer and are more successful than those of their male counterparts. The question is: why does this remain the status quo? Like Tessa Clarke of Olio featured in The Observer, Giovanna Forte our CEO has frequently encountered the same unedifying “wall of men”.

Forte Medical seeks £1m investment to bring a gold standard to women’s urological and prenatal health in healthcare and home settings; in the three years since Covid removed turnover and investment interest, Forte Medical has reshaped, now ready to relaunch and transform routine healthcare for women, tackle rising cases of uro-sepsis and urology-related antimicrobial resistance.

Investors: work with us to grow globally, save lives … and see excellent returns.