adsilico, GBP 10M Series A for virtual patients
Clinical trials for heart valves and stents typically enrol a few hundred patients, which makes it hard to represent the range of people who will receive the device, according to tech.eu. adsilico, a University of Leeds spinout, builds virtual patients to fill that gap. On 26 October 2026 it announced a £10 million Series A led by PXN Ventures, with existing investors Northern Gritstone and Parkwalk.
Its platform, Virtual Chimera, uses generative AI to create virtual hearts and blood vessels from anonymised clinical scans. Physics-based simulations then test a device across variations in age, sex, ethnicity, body size and medical condition. Manufacturers use the results for device sizing, for identifying higher-risk patients and for shaping trial strategy. adsilico says it has completed projects with heart valve and neurovascular device makers; no customer is named.
The university link is documented. University of Leeds announced on 27 February 2024 that adsilico had received a combined £3.5 million: £2 million from Northern Gritstone and £1.5 million from Parkwalk. By simple addition, that and the new round make £13.5 million. The technique builds on research funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering at the university's Schools of Medicine and Computing.
CEO and co-founder Sheena Macpherson says patients "miss out on the chance of a life-saving device" when people like them are not represented in design and testing.
The limits: no valuation, revenue or customer name is published, and neither article says which of the investors' funds put the money in. The £10 million is for the whole round, not for any single backer.
What the money pays for: more virtual heart models, expansion into neurovascular devices including flow diverters for brain aneurysms, and growth from 14 to 34 staff, according to BusinessCloud.