A software company has secured a £700,000 investment as it gears up for the launch of its responsive LED lighting technology into the international gaming market.

Middlesbrough-based amBX has developed remote control technology that can set LED lighting to respond to moving images or different soundwaves and is now working alongside gaming firm Mad Catz Interactive to bring the technology to PC users.

Teesside chemical sector expert Kris Wadrop is hoping to provide a boost to the region in which he learned his trade, by establishing the UK's first facility to produce chemicals from organic waste such as leftover food.

The CEO of Solvert Limited aims to create a £100m manufacturing plant on Teesside which can supply renewable raw materials to local industry.

Newcastle’s Bonafide Films has secured £300,000 in funding as it bids to develop a range of film and TV projects. The two-year-old company has been given £150,000 from Arizona investor Rockford Asset Management.

Bonafide’s founders Sacha Alexander and Margery Bone aim to put the money into a range of upcoming projects, such as the sit-com Undercover, sic-fi  series Korridor and Peter Straughan short production Gee Gee.

Former Northumbria University Student Union president Ross Linnett has secured £100,000 to continue development of software that helps dyslexic and visually-impaired web users.

Linnett’s Recite Me software allows users to adapt websites to fit their particular preferences, translating text into more legible fonts, changing the colour contrast and reading out the content on the page.