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Leeds spinout adsilico raised a £10M Series A led by PXN Ventures to simulate medical device performance on AI-generated virtual hearts and brain vessels.
Key Takeaways
- adsilico closed a £10M Series A on 26 October 2026, led by PXN Ventures.
- Existing backers Northern Gritstone and Parkwalk joined; Northern Gritstone put in £5M.
- Funds extend heart models into brain devices and lift headcount from 14 to 34.
Lead
adsilico, a University of Leeds spinout that tests medical implants on simulated patients, announced a £10M Series A on 26 October 2026. PXN Ventures led the round, with Northern Gritstone and Parkwalk returning from the company's seed. Valuation was not disclosed, and neither was the split between PXN and Parkwalk. The money will extend adsilico's heart models into neurovascular devices and grow the team from 14 to 34 people.
What Does adsilico Actually Sell?
adsilico sells simulation to medical device manufacturers who want to know how an implant behaves across many body types before human trials begin. Its platform, Virtual Chimera, uses generative AI to build virtual hearts and blood vessels from anonymised clinical scans. It then runs physics-based simulations of a device inside each virtual anatomy, under clinical oversight.
The resulting population is meant to reflect real variation in age, sex, ethnicity, body size and disease. Chief executive Sheena Macpherson said the company gives manufacturers "early insight into the impact of anatomical diversity when it can still shape the design." The company has completed projects with heart valve and neurovascular device makers, though it has not named customers.
Why Does Virtual Patient Testing Matter for Device Makers?
Conventional trials for devices such as heart valves and stents typically enrol a few hundred patients, which limits how well they represent the people who eventually receive the product. Recruiting across demographic groups is slow and expensive. Northern Gritstone's announcement cites a figure of 33% for women among participants in high-risk implant trials.
The regulatory direction favours the pitch. The UK's MHRA is working toward stronger guidance on diversity in device testing, following Dame Margaret Whitehead's independent review of equity in medical devices. Simulation does not replace a human trial, but it can flag a design that fails in smaller or older anatomies before a manufacturer commits to enrolment.
How Does This Round Compare With the Seed?
The Series A is roughly 2.9 times the £3.5M seed that Northern Gritstone and Parkwalk announced in February 2024. Northern Gritstone contributed £2M to that seed and Parkwalk £1.5M. This time Northern Gritstone alone wrote a £5M cheque, 2.5 times its first, which reads as an insider doubling down rather than a sceptical follow-on.
The lead, however, is new. PXN Ventures, an investor focused on university spinouts in the North of the UK, brings a fresh price-setter to the table. PXN's Dr Elizabeth Young described adsilico as representative of "groundbreaking innovation and deep thinking being spun out of universities across the North of the UK." Parkwalk's Dr Anne Dobrée called the company "exactly the kind of science we exist to back."
The undisclosed valuation limits how much can be read into the step-up. A £10M round at an unknown price says the investors liked the progress. It does not say how much the company is worth.
What Will the Money Be Used For?
The funds go first to brain devices, specifically flow diverters used to treat brain aneurysms, where trial numbers are smallest. That is a logical target for a company selling statistical power: the fewer patients a trial can enrol, the more a virtual cohort adds. Headcount rises from 14 to 34, a 143% increase that makes hiring the main cost line.
What Are the Risks?
The central question is whether regulators and manufacturers will treat simulation as evidence rather than as supplementary analysis. Virtual populations are only as good as the scans and physics models behind them, and a regulator will want validation against real outcomes. adsilico's early customers are doing design-stage work, where the bar is lower than a submission to a regulator.
Competition also exists. Other computational modelling firms sell in-silico trial services, and large device makers run internal simulation teams. adsilico's edge rests on generating diverse populations at scale, which is hard to verify from the outside.
Outlook
adsilico enters its next phase with £10M, a new lead investor and insiders who increased their commitment. The tests ahead are commercial: converting design-stage projects into repeat contracts, and showing that neurovascular simulation holds up as well as the heart work. Regulatory acceptance of virtual evidence will set the pace beyond that.
