Since our Silicon Gorge competition wrapped up last month, we’ve been spotlighting some of the incredible startups that made it to the semi-finals and investor showcase.
We’ve explored their founder journeys, dug into the problems they’re solving and highlighted the next steps for this year’s cohort. We have been shining a light on the brilliant founders driving innovation across the South West.
Next up we’re featuring: Dr Jenny Cooper, CEO and Co-Founder at FerryX
1. What does your company do?
Ferryx develops next-generation probiotics to support gut health at a time when conventional products fail. Our mission is simple yet bold: to bring effective, science-backed relief to people who live with chronic gut conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
2. What problem are you trying to solve?
1 in 5 people experience irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and this has a debilitating impact, affecting lifestyle, food choices, and mental wellbeing. It is a lifelong condition and is a relapsing-remitting condition with relapses lasting days, weeks or months at a time. Despite its high prevalence, a lack of satisfactory treatments forces people to live with symptoms or make uncomfortable choices around their lives to cope. Whilst probiotics are popular, conventional probiotics cannot function during stress or an active IBS flare up.
3. What makes your solution unique?
What sets our solution, Ferrocalm, apart is its unique ability to stay active during gut inflammation – something most probiotics can’t do. Backed by scientific research, it’s formulated to survive the journey through the stomach and small intestine, only breaking down in the large intestine — exactly where it’s needed.
Our customers tell us the difference is life-changing. We’ve seen hundreds of glowing reviews from people who’ve tried “everything else” and finally found what works:
“I have tried numerous gut health supplements over recent years for my diverticular and IBS issues and nothing has worked until I stumbled across this website. I am truly amazed at the transformation. I’ve not had one flare up since I started taking Ferrocalm . I couldn’t recommend taking it highly enough.” – Penny
“I had been experiencing some bloating, acid reflux and stomach pain and I tried some over the counter remedies at my local pharmacy that did not suffice. I decided to try Ferrocalm for the 4 week initial trial and now my symptoms are completely under control. Extremely satisfied with the product. Great value for money.” – Kerran
4. What are you most proud of so far?
We have launched a product which is having a life-changing impact on people. In our trials, 76% of people noticed an improvement to their IBS symptoms within just 8 weeks. Ferrocalm is improving quality of life for our consumers, allowing them to eat foods that were previously off-limits and go about their daily lives without fear of symptoms disturbing plans. Before taking Ferrocalm, 82% of our consumers rated their quality of life in relation to GI symptoms as poor or very poor; after 8 weeks of Ferrocalm, 65% of our consumers said their quality of life was good or very good. Improving quality of life for hundreds of people already is something that we’re incredibly proud of.
5. How much are you raising and what do you want to use investment for?
We are currently seeking £1.5m to grow the Ferrocalm brand and reach profitability. Outcomes of the investment will be:
- Development of Ferrocalm brand extensions to build portfolio
- Strategic hires focusing on sales and marketing
- Increase sales of Ferrocalm D2C in the UK
- Drive website traffic
- Drive customer conversion to order
- Customer retention
- Distribution agreements for Ferrocalm in major territories by end of 2026
6. What tools/people/services/organisations helped you most?
The Bristol and South-West ecosystem have been a tremendous support to us over the last few years. This region has a thriving ecosystem of support services and peer networks and is such an exciting place to be. Support from the University of Bristol, SETsquared and Future Space helped to set us on the right course, later joined by Tech South West and their fantastic Growth Forge Accelerator. Finally, our investors, Deepbridge Capital have provided far more value than simply cash, supporting us as a team member and introducing us to a wide network of companies and experts in the heathtech space.
7. Where can we find out more about you?
You can find out more on our website, https://ferrocalm.com/, and also by following us on social media:
