Healthcare technology firm secures £1m investment to scale up

Digital health and AI business Medwise.ai has secured a £1m investment from Finance Yorkshire and other investors.

Medwise.ai is a search platform for medical professionals and healthcare organisations which significantly reduces the time clinicians spend looking up information during consultations, enabling them to see more patients and improve care quality.

With a growing NHS vacancy list and reports of clinician burn-out, there is an urgent need to support healthcare professionals and improve productivity.

Founded in 2019, Medwise.ai has seven employees and is headquartered in Leeds, from where it plans to strengthen its operations in the Yorkshire region.

Finance Yorkshire is investing £400,000 from its Seedcorn Fund and led the overall funding round of more than £1m, with participation from health-tech investors StartUp Health and CalmStorm VC and deep-tech accelerator and venture capital fund Deeptech Labs.

Medwise.ai also has the backing of clinician investors Dr Michelle Tempest at Candesic and Dr Chris Kelly at Google Health. SFC Capital has made a follow-on investment after leading a previous round of funding for Medwise.ai.

The company will use the investment to scale up operations and strengthen its sales and marketing activities in the UK. Stephen Cardwell, of Finance Yorkshire, will join the Medwise.ai board.

The Medwise.ai search platform uses natural language processing and artificial intelligence technology to help clinicians quickly find concise and actionable answers at the point of care. It aggregates results and integrates with information sources such as national guidance websites and local guidelines documents.

Dr Keith Tsui, chief executive and co-founder of Medwise.ai, said: “I am thrilled to have secured our seed funding and excited to accelerate our mission to empower clinicians with AI and search technologies.

"Our product provides clinicians with one search for clinical knowledge and local guidelines. Instead of Googling or going through outdated local websites or intranets, Medwise.ai enables clinicians to find the information they need to make decisions for patients rapidly at the point of care.”

Alex McWhirter, chief executive of Finance Yorkshire, said: “Medwise.ai will empower clinicians to be more efficient, make better decisions and spend more time with their patients. We are pleased to lead this funding round and look forward to working with the Medwise.ai team as they scale up their operations and provide a further boost to the burgeoning healthcare technology sector in our region.”

Finance Yorkshire was advised by Jonathan Priestley at 3volution. Ray Levy of Ray Levy Law acted for Medwise.ai.

The company previously raised more than £500,000 in a 2021 funding round from SFC Capital, Wayra (Telefónica’s open innovation arm), SyndicateRoom's Access EIS fund and angels including Stephen Bullock.

Finance Yorkshire’s Seedcorn Fund is part of a wider regional business fund which is expected to provide more than £50m to SMEs over five years. Investment is also available from its Growth and Business Loans Funds.