TWO pioneering companies, one in York and the other in Elvington, have made their first pitch for a stake in a £1 million investment pot.

Neotherix, a spinout venture from the Smith & Nephew Research Centre at York Science Park which is devising special post-surgery wound repair material, and Tyrecycling, which is preparing to make products out of crumb from discarded tyres on Elvington Industrial Estate, each spent ten minutes trying to persuade four investment groups of their worthiness.

The investment groups were the Viking Fund, the Enterprise Venture's Rising Stars Fund, the YFM Group and the Seedcorn Fund, each of which has £250,000 to spend.

The North Yorkshire companies, plus RandomStorm of Leeds and Data Equation of Sheffield, all earned a Connect Yorkshire Award as part of the organisation's InvestorQuest business challenge.

Connect Yorkshire, which brings together emerging high tech companies with investors, has also awarded them each £1,000-worth of consultancy support to prepare them over the next month to make a much more detailed and refined pitch before the investment panel.

The consultancy support is being provided by InvestorQuest's four sponsors, Clarion Solicitors, Murgitroyd & Company, Mazars and Turn Key which between them specialise in law, intellectual property, accountancy and marketing.

Dr Mike Raxworthy, founder and chief executive of Neotheric, said he was "absolutely delighted" at the chance the award afforded him, given that his company, in which Smith & Nephew has a stake, was only formed in July.

He was hoping that he would receive the £200,000 needed to take Neotheric to its next stage - development testing of the bio-absorbable "scaffold" material, which is hoped will aid the healing of wounds, particularly those which result from skin cancer surgery.

Dr Raxworthy explained: "The material provides tracks for the body's healthy cells to migrate across, attaching themselves and making new tissue, and the material is then absorbed into the body's system in between seven and ten days.

"It will take possibly until the middle of 2010 to put the product on the market, and the process is likely to come to £1.3 million."

The company has an office at the Smith & Nephew site in the Science Park at Heslington, York.

Martin Miles, director of Tyrecycling, said that the advice he would receive from the consultants would be invaluable.

"I'm hoping to persuade the investors to give us at least £50,000.

"The machinery is in place and we have already taken delivery of the first 100 tonnes of crumb.

"We are hoping to turn it into products like dock fenders for harbour protection, fenders for unloading bays, acoustic insulation materials for the building and construction industry as well as matting."

He and Roy Handley, proprietor of A1 Plant and Haulage in Elvington, formed the company in 2004 to take advantage of the European ban on tyres as infill material on waste disposal sites.