adsilico raises £10M to test medical devices on virtual patients

adsilico has raised £10M in a Series A led by PXN Ventures, with existing investors Northern Gritstone and Parkwalk participating. The University of Leeds spinout, founded in 2024, has now secured £13.5M in total equity funding across its seed and Series A rounds. Its headcount will grow from 14 to 34 at the university’s Nexus innovation hub.

The company uses generative AI to create virtual hearts and blood vessels from anonymised clinical scans. It then simulates how heart valves, stents and flow diverters for brain aneurysms perform across patient populations that vary by age, sex, ethnicity, body size and disease. That approach allows manufacturers to evaluate devices against anatomies that may be under-represented in conventional development and testing.

Chief executive and co-founder Sheena Macpherson said gaps in patient representation can leave people uncertain whether a device will work for them or unable to access potentially life-saving treatment. adsilico positions its platform as a complement to laboratory, animal and clinical studies, with the potential to reduce the need for animal testing over time.