Jelly Drops

Jelly Drops #InventedAtImperial

Motivated by his grandma’s experience of dehydration, Lewis Hornby decided to find a solution for this problem, common among people with dementia, and created Jelly Drops.

The team behind Jelly Drops Lewis Hornby, Eunice Moon, Claudia Arnold and Nick Hooton

Website: www.jellydrops.co.uk Twitter: @JellyDrops_ Facebook: @JellyDropsHydration Instagram: @jellydropshydration

Lewis Hornby CPO (Innovation Design Engineering 2018) Claudia Arnold COO (Innovation Design Engineering 2018) Nick Hooton CEO (Innovation Design Engineering 2018) Eunice Moon R&D Chemist (Chemistry 2019)

The problem and solution About a year ago, my grandma was unexpectedly rushed to hospital and diagnosed as severely dehydrated. Thankfully, after 24 hours on IV fluids, she was back to her normal self, but for the 50 million people in the world with dementia, this situation is common and many aren’t as lucky as my grandma. Dehydration is one of the leading causes of death for people with dementia.

In Jelly Drops we have created hydrating treats that enable people with dementia to hydrate more often and independently. Many people with dementia are not aware that they are dehydrated as they do not equate drinking with relieving thirst. For people with dementia, the symptoms of dehydration are often mistakenly attributed to their underlying condition, meaning it can easily go unnoticed until it becomes life-threatening.

Eating is easier than drinking for many people with dementia. Nevertheless, it’s still difficult to encourage them to take food or drink. One way to overcome this is to offer them a treat in the form of a sweet, which they instantly recognise, link to reward and understand how to consume.

Jelly Drops are over 90 per cent water, with added ingredients to optimise hydration. In addition to reducing care requirements and illnesses, Jelly Drops enhance the social interactions between staff and residents. The drops transform what could otherwise be a frustrating and upsetting task into an encounter that is enjoyable. These moments can make a real difference to a resident’s overall wellbeing.

When we first offered Jelly Drops to my grandma Pat, she ate seven Jelly Drops in ten minutes – the equivalent of a cup full of water! This would usually take hours and require much more assistance.

The team My grandmother’s experience motivated me to find a way to help people with dementia remain hydrated and I decided to work on this idea while studying on the Innovation Design Engineering Double Master’s, run by Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art.

I met Claudia and Nick through my course and we have all been working to help reduce dehydration in dementia patients. More recently, Eunice joined the team – a graduate chemist from Imperial – and she will be helping with the final stages of product development, as well as scaling-up production.

We have trialled Jelly Drops at a number of different care homes and received really encouraging results. We are aiming to launch later this year and planning to raise investment so we can scale-up production.

Support from the Enterprise Lab In 2018, we took part in the Venture Catalyst Challenge, which provided an incredible kickstart to our entrepreneurial journey through its programme of masterclasses, coaching and expert advice. Since then, we have met a fantastic group of advisers through the Imperial Venture Mentoring Service who have been very valuable in helping us build the company and develop the product.

Successes and setbacks One of the most exciting points in our development has been partnering with the Alzheimer’s Society, the UK’s leading dementia support and research charity, and we were the first company to be accepted onto their new accelerator programme. We’ve also been lucky enough to win a number of other awards including both the People’s Choice Award and Audience Vote at this year’s Pitch@Palace.

Other highlights include reaching over 100 million views online and learning that our waiting list exceeded 30,000 people, indicating there is a real demand for our product.

We haven’t experienced any major setbacks yet and we always try to frame the mishaps that have occurred as learning opportunities. Hopefully we’ll be able to continue doing this!

Our advice to aspiring entrepreneurial students Find great co-founders as soon as possible who believe in the idea and are driven to make it happen. The team behind your product is so important.