adsilico has raised £10M in a Series A round to test medical devices on virtual patients before they reach real ones.
The Leeds spinout's latest funding was led by PXN Ventures, with existing investors Northern Gritstone and Parkwalk also taking part. adsilico will use the money to move beyond virtual hearts into brain devices and to grow its team from 14 to 34 people, according to Northern Gritstone's announcement of the round.
adsilico funding at a glance
| Detail | adsilico Series A |
|---|---|
| Amount raised | £10M |
| Lead investor | PXN Ventures |
| Existing investors | Northern Gritstone, Parkwalk |
| Northern Gritstone's cheque | £5M |
| Team size | 14 now, 34 planned |
| Base | Nexus, University of Leeds |
What does adsilico do?
adsilico is a University of Leeds spinout that uses AI and simulation to show how a medical device will perform across a wide range of patients. Its Virtual Chimera technology uses generative AI to build virtual hearts and blood vessels from anonymised clinical scans, then runs physics-based simulations of how a device behaves inside them, under clinical oversight.
The virtual populations differ by age, sex, ethnicity, body size and disease. Manufacturers can use the results to choose device sizes or spot higher-risk patients before further development or clinical trials, when a design can still change.
What is the adsilico recent funding for?
The adsilico recent funding has three jobs. The first is extending the company's work on heart models. The second is expanding into brain devices, such as flow diverters used to treat brain aneurysms. The third is hiring, which takes the team from 14 to 34 people.
This is not the company's first outside money. adsilico closed a £3.5M seed round in early 2024 backed by Northern Gritstone and Parkwalk. Going by the announced figures, that puts total funding across the two rounds at £13.5M.
Why does the adsilico round matter for UK healthtech?
The pitch rests on a gap in how devices are tested. According to the company, patients can miss out on a life-saving device when the people a product is meant for were not represented in its design and testing. Duncan Johnson, chief executive of Northern Gritstone, says manufacturers need to know early that their products will work for the people who receive them, before costly human trials.
It also fits a wider pattern of UK deeptech and health money moving into university spinouts. Bizztor has tracked it in Cytospire's Series A for its cancer cell therapy pipeline, Stride's seed round for preventative health testing and the British Business Bank's commitment to six AI and deeptech funds. For where the money is landing by region, see our look at the UK cities and sectors winning the most startup funding, and browse the full UK funding data.
adsilico's Series A was announced on 26 October 2026.
