We made our first investment into Oomph! in late 2013, attracted by the company’s novel and scalable approach to bringing health and wellbeing benefits to older people. Innovation in this sector has historically been slow.

Oomph is playing a key role in helping solve one of society’s biggest challenges – how we provide good quality care to an increasing older population. The residential care sector is struggling to deliver high quality care and is under extreme pressure ​through local authority budget cuts and rising costs. In 2015 ​the Health Quality Commission warned that 40 per cent of care homes for the elderly are below standard. Exercise and activity in care homes is often limited and of poor quality.

The business provides exercise and activity training to the residential care industry and community organisations and our initial funding enabled the business to move away from providing classes directly, to training care home staff to provide classes and activities themselves. Our participation in subsequent rounds helped attract investment from co-investors and launch and grow a managed excursions service to residential care homes – Out & About.