A COMPANY aiming to give instant noodles a good name is seeking £375,000 from investors via an online crowdfunding platform.

Mr Lee’s Noodles Company was started in Bournemouth by former corporate head hunter Damien Lee, who was given four weeks to live in 2014.

He switched to a healthy diet while going through 16 rounds of chemotherapy to treat his stage four cancer. He subsequently had the idea of carving out a healthy niche in the instant noodle industry, which is expected to hit global sales of 120billion units by 2025.

Mr Lee, who is now in complete remission, partnered with Compass Group UK to distribute Mr Lee’s Noodles. The product is available at several local outlets, from the company’s own online store and via Amazon Prime.

The business will also be rolling out hi-tech vending machines, dubbed Noodle Kiosks.

He is seeking investors via the equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs and had already reached 82 per cent of the £375,000 target by Monday.

Mr Lee said: “All through my life I have dreamed up and built businesses across seven different countries. These companies have been diverse in nature and some went onto to become very significant. However, I believe all these experiences were to prepare me for Mr Lee’s Noodles.

“Never before have I been so excited and believe so passionately in what I’m doing here. I know we can make a difference to people’s lives by the very nature of what they eat. I’m truly excited that through Seedrs we are now able to open up our company to people who believe in what we are doing and join in our exciting journey and what lies ahead for us.”

The company has backing from Chris Fung, ex-chief executive of Cruush; Stephen Moss, chairman of the Springboard charity and founder of BCP Airport Parking; Martyn Dawes, former chief executive of Coffee Nation; and Simon Champ, founder and chief executive of Eaglewood Europe.Christopher Fung said: “This is the first time there is a genuinely healthy version of instant noodles available to the health conscious, time starved customer in this sector. Not only do the noodles taste great but they can genuinely improve the health and nutrition of anyone looking for an instant hot meal without the need for cooking.”

Ben Aronsten, chief marketing officer at Seedrs, said: “We were blown away by Damien’s personal journey and inspired by his fighting spirit. It is a delight to welcome Mr Lee’s Noodles Company on to Seedrs, a business with health at its very core and entrepreneurial spirit as the driving force and wish the team great success in their campaign and beyond.”

Mr Lee’s team includes business developer Graeme Hossie; Martin Verspeak, who has extensive experience in the vending industry; and Barbara Cox, founder of Nutrichef.

The freeze-dried product comes in six flavours which are low in salt, sugar, calories and saturated fats, without artificial additives and preservatives.