A York invention which allows people to "talk" themselves thin, needs funding, but is falling through the "equity gap".

The new idea is the brainchild of new company Nutratech - a programme which can be downloaded on to any modern mobile phone. Simply key in the final four digits on the barcode of any supermarket food product and your phone gives you detailed information about its nutrients.

The online and mobile phone weight management service, dubbed Nutracheck, is based on keeping a food diary online so that people can keep a regular check on what goes into their bodies while monitoring calorific intake and identifying "problem" foods.

It draws on a growing database of more than 30,000 food and drink items.

Paul Cookson, of Dunnington, the technical director of Nutratech who devised Nutracheck, said that sales of the pioneering service which range from £4.99 per month to £19.99 for six months, were up and running, but now he and his partner managing director, Tim Vryenhoef, were seeking investment.

They needed between £200,000 and £300,000 in equity funding to find new offices in York and to provide working capital to grow the business.

"More specifically, we need to increase our sales and marketing activity, invest in research and development and recruit additional staff," said Mr Cookson.

The two men were invited by Nick Butler, executive director of Connect Yorkshire to make their pitch to business "angels" and major investors at a Connect investment forum last week.

So far nothing definite has come of it. Mr Cookson said: "The money we want is too much for small business angels which prefer to back ventures up to about £100,000, and is too small for the big investors who start at about £1 million."

But Mr Vryenhoef, a former weight management product manager for Boots the Chemists who saw Nutracheck as an alternative to "quick fix" weight loss solutions, said he was "still hopeful" that the idea of an educational tool which allows people to monitor and compare foods for nutritional value would attract backing.

Mr Butler was also hopeful: "I understand that one or two regional fund investors were keen to follow this up," he said.

Updated: 10:45 Wednesday, June 29, 2005