20 year-old student at Newcastle University secures lab and hires staff for start-up

Henrietta Newble, a mechanical engineering student, has secured laboratory and office space to pursue her latest business venture, a diagnostic testing company called AnFiTest. The company aspires to save time and money by making it easier to detect and prevent illness in animals before severe symptoms manifest. The company aims to offer conclusive, portable and affordable test kits for use in agriculture, amongst other sectors. The testing methods under development are intended to replace the slow lab-based testing and unreliable visual assessment which potential customers currently rely on to diagnose illness in animals. AnFiTest is currently pursuing patents to protect the intellectual property undergirding its ambitions within the animal diagnostics market.

Henrietta's venture is being supported by the University START UP team, who have provided initial funding and mentoring. With the support of the university, AnFiTest has also facilitated several internships that support ongoing research efforts to prepare a product for market. Henrietta has relied upon interdisciplinary expertise from the Chemical Engineering department amongst others to develop the company's product.

Having already raised £40,000 in early stage funding, the company is pursuing a further £80,000 to support ongoing efforts and has participated in Innovate UK's Growth and Scale programme. Beyond the university itself, Henrietta has raised funds independently at networking events. She also sits on the committee for the Founders Club, a recently established Newcastle University ecosystem which aims to bridge the gap between students and external venture capital.

Henrietta has been building businesses since primary school and competed in high level tetrathlon until an accident ended her sporting career when she was 16. Since then, she has redoubled her efforts in fulfilling business ideas ranging from CAD design to t-shirts. With a PhD from Oxford University having recently joined the AnFiTest development team, her latest venture represents the start-up environment which Newcastle University seeks to incubate.