AdsILico Raises £10M ($13.4M) Funding to Fix MedTech’s Trial Diversity Gap With Virtual Patients

AdsILico, the Leeds-based spinout building AI-powered virtual patient models for medical device trials, has raised £10 million ($13.4 million) in Series A funding led by Mercia Ventures and Northern Gritstone, with participation from Parkwalk, British Business Bank, and Innovate UK.

The funding comes as AdsILico prepares to scale its platform, which uses AI to create virtual patient populations that can simulate how medical devices perform across diverse demographics—reducing the cost, time, and failure rates of clinical trials. The company did not disclose its valuation.

AdsILico Funding Overview By CREDX Media

Startup Name	AdsILico
Founders	Sheena Macpherson (CEO), Dr Nishant Ravikumar & Dr Zeike Taylor
Founded	2023
HQ	Leeds, UK
Round	Series A Funding
Amount Raised	£10M ($13.4M)
Valuation	Not disclosed
Category	MedTech, AI Clinical Trials, Virtual Patients
Lead Investors	Mercia Ventures, Northern Gritstone
Key Investors	Parkwalk, British Business Bank, Innovate UK
Total Funding Raised	~£10M (Series A)
Target Market	Orthopaedics, cardiovascular, medical devices
Focus Area	Virtual patient simulation for trial diversity

💡 Use of Funds

• Neurovascular Expansion: Extending heart model portfolio to cover flow diverters for brain aneurysms, where trial numbers are lowest .
• Team Growth: Growing from 14 to 34 employees at the University of Leeds’ Nexus innovation hub .
• Platform Development: Further developing the Virtual Chimera technology for assessing device performance across diverse virtual patient populations .

Startup Overview: adsilico

What adsilico Is Building in Simple Words

adsilico has built Virtual Chimera™, a platform that uses generative AI to create realistic virtual hearts and blood vessels from anonymised clinical scans. It then runs physics-based simulations of how medical devices behave inside these virtual anatomies, under clinical supervision, across populations that reflect real variation in age, sex, ethnicity, body size, and disease .

• Virtual Patient Populations: AI-generated models that can represent specific demographics—for example, women aged 55-75 of South Asian heritage—allowing manufacturers to assess device performance before real patient trials .
• Physics-Based Simulation: The platform combines generative AI with physics simulations to test how implants like heart valves and stents perform across different anatomies .
• Regulatory Alignment: The technology helps device makers address diversity gaps that regulators are increasingly scrutinizing. A JAMA Internal Medicine study found women comprised a median of 33% of participants in 195 high-risk implant trials, falling to 29% in cardiovascular trials .
• Proven Traction: adsilico has already completed projects with heart valve and neurovascular device manufacturers, and its cardiac research is set to be presented at TCT, a global meeting for structural heart therapies .

Why adsilico Matters

1. Trial Diversity Is a Regulatory and Ethical Imperative The UK’s independent review on equity in medical devices found evidence that some groups may receive sub-optimal treatment because of bias in device design and testing. The MHRA is working toward strengthened guidance on diversity .
2. Late-Stage Failures Are Expensive The average cost of developing a new complex medical device is around $522 million, including failure. Only an estimated 13.7% of complex devices that enter non-clinical testing reach approval .
3. The Founders Bring Deep Expertise CEO Sheena Macpherson leads the company alongside Dr Nishant Ravikumar and Dr Zeike Taylor, both at the University of Leeds. The technology stems from research funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the University of Leeds .
4. Investor Conviction from Seed to Series A Northern Gritstone and Parkwalk backed adsilico from its £3.5 million seed round in 2024, and both returned for the Series A—signaling sustained belief in the technology and team .

Founder Background: The Leeds Team Building Virtual Patients

Sheena Macpherson (CEO) co-founded adsilico in 2024. She was featured in TFN’s Ada Lovelace Day 2024 piece recognizing women in technology.

Dr Nishant Ravikumar is a co-founder based at the University of Leeds. His expertise spans medical imaging and computational modelling.

Dr Zeike Taylor is a co-founder and Head of Simulations at adsilico, bringing expertise in engineering and simulation technologies.

The founding team’s combination—Macpherson’s leadership, Ravikumar’s imaging expertise, and Taylor’s simulation depth—positions adsilico to bridge the gap between academic research and regulatory-grade evidence for medical devices.

Founder Intelligence: What Founders Can Learn from adsilico

• Solve the regulatory problem: Trial diversity isn’t just a scientific issue—it’s a regulatory requirement. adsilico helps device makers meet requirements efficiently while improving patient outcomes.
• Spin out from strong research: The University of Leeds provided the research foundation, funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering. Academic institutions can be powerful launchpads for deep tech startups.
• Build the evidence layer: adsilico doesn’t replace clinical trials—it adds a new dimension of evidence before and alongside them. Positioning as complementary rather than competitive reduces adoption friction.
• Scale with the right investors: Northern Gritstone and Parkwalk backed adsilico from seed and returned for Series A. Deep tech requires patient capital that understands long development cycles.

Investor Intelligence: Why This Round Gets Premium Capital

PXN Ventures led the round. Dr Elizabeth Young, Investment Manager, framed the thesis: “adsilico represents the level of groundbreaking innovation and deep thinking being spun out of universities across the North of the UK currently” .

Northern Gritstone returned after investing £2 million in the seed round. CEO Duncan Johnson said: “Medical device manufacturers need to know that their products will work for the people who receive them, including populations that have been traditionally underserved” .

Parkwalk also returned. Dr Anne Dobrée, Investment Director, noted: “adsilico is exactly the kind of science we exist to back: deep, hard-won intellectual property out of the UK’s universities, with a real chance to change how medical devices reach patients” .

The investor composition signals conviction: three investors focused on northern businesses and university spinouts returned to back adsilico’s next phase of growth.

The Road Ahead for adsilico

Expansion Targets

With £10 million in capital, adsilico will:

• Extend into neurovascular devices, specifically flow diverters for brain aneurysms .
• Grow the team from 14 to 34 at the Nexus innovation hub .
• Continue developing the Virtual Chimera platform for additional therapeutic areas .

Competitive Response

Expect:

• Other in-silico trial platforms like Virtonomy (device space) and Unlearn (drug space) to compete for manufacturer partnerships.
• Traditional clinical trial software vendors to add virtual patient features.
• adsilico’s moat: UK university research foundation + regulatory alignment + proven cardiac projects + investor continuity.

Conclusion

adsilico’s £10 million Series A funding validates the thesis that AI-generated virtual patients can address the medtech trial diversity gap. The company’s Virtual Chimera technology—built on University of Leeds research and backed by investors who have supported the team since seed—gives device manufacturers a way to assess implants across diverse populations before real patients are involved.

Market tailwinds favor adsilico: regulatory pressure for diversity, the $522 million cost of device development failures, and growing acceptance of in-silico evidence in regulatory submissions. The company’s academic foundation, investor continuity, and expanding portfolio position it to capture this opportunity as medtech seeks smarter, more equitable ways to validate new devices.

For deep analysis of medtech funding, AI clinical trial innovation, and companies reshaping device development, explore CREDX Media for comprehensive coverage of startup funding trends, valuation intelligence, and founder playbooks.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is adsilico’s total funding and latest round size?
adsilico has raised £13.5 million in total equity funding. Its £10 million Series A was led by PXN Ventures in October 2026, following a £3.5 million seed in 2024 .

2. How much did adsilico raise in its Series A and who led the investment?
adsilico raised £10 million ($13.4 million) led by PXN Ventures, with participation from Northern Gritstone and Parkwalk .

3. What is the valuation of adsilico?
adsilico did not disclose its post-money valuation.

4. Who are the major investors in adsilico?
Major investors include PXN Ventures (Series A lead), Northern Gritstone, and Parkwalk .

5. Who are adsilico’s founders?
adsilico was founded in 2024 by Sheena Macpherson (CEO), Dr Nishant Ravikumar, and Dr Zeike Taylor, building on research at the University of Leeds .

6. What is adsilico’s business model?
adsilico operates a B2B model, providing virtual patient simulation technology to medical device manufacturers for pre-clinical testing and trial design .

7. How does adsilico’s Virtual Chimera technology work?
Virtual Chimera uses generative AI to create realistic virtual hearts and blood vessels from anonymised clinical scans, then runs physics-based simulations of device performance across diverse patient populations .

8. What problem does adsilico solve for medtech?
adsilico addresses the trial diversity gap—women made up only 33% of participants in high-risk implant trials—by allowing manufacturers to test device performance across representative virtual populations before real trials .

9. What are adsilico’s plans for the £10 million Series A capital?
adsilico will extend its heart models into neurovascular devices like flow diverters for brain aneurysms, and grow its team from 14 to 34 people .

10. Why did Northern Gritstone and Parkwalk invest again?
Both investors backed adsilico from its seed round and returned for Series A, signaling continued conviction in the technology and team. Parkwalk noted adsilico is “exactly the kind of science we exist to back” .

11. Who is the CEO of adsilico?
Sheena Macpherson serves as CEO and co-founder.