Biomedical Catalyst investment fuelling innovative healthcare solutions
Investment from Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst announced today will help innovative UK businesses translate breakthrough ideas into products and therapies for patients, bringing them a step closer to commercialisation and impact.
The Biomedical Catalyst supports UK SMEs in the health and life sciences sector to test, develop and accelerate innovative health and care solutions, including therapeutics, medical devices, and digital health. By providing support at every stage, from Accelerators and feasibility studies, to R&D funding and grants alongside private investment, the Biomedical Catalyst is helping UK innovators start, grow, scale and stay in the UK.
Building on Accelerator success
Biomedical Catalyst feasibility funding helps start-ups and SMEs test the technical and commercial feasibility of their most promising ideas. This recent round of funding followed the successful Accelerating Femtech and AI for Health Accelerator programmes, ensuring continued momentum in women’s health, digital health and AI-driven innovation.
Accelerating femtech: Personalised jaw pain relief with an app
Temporomandibular disorders affect one in 15 people in the UK, with twice as many women as men experiencing symptoms. These include persistent jaw pain, migraines, and neck pain, which can significantly impact quality of life. Current care is fragmented and without continuous, trustworthy guidance, symptoms flare, frustration rises and costly repeat appointments follow.
JawSense is developing a smartphone app on which users log pain levels, triggers such as stress or late-afternoon caffeine, and relief strategies. The app then identifies patterns and prompts the user towards preventative actions. Its Biomedical Catalyst funded project will see 50 adults, mostly women, use the app for at least eight weeks. Data will be gathered on how often participants use the app, which features they value most and how clinicians respond to the exported reports.
AI for health: Giving stroke survivors rehabilitation options
There are 1.4 million stroke survivors in the UK with 100,000 new cases each year. Many current robotic rehabilitation systems are ineffective for patients who cannot move, as they rely on detecting physical movement or muscle activity. Technology that detects movement intentions directly from brain signals could be helpful, but existing solutions are too slow for clinical use, taking 30–50 minutes to set up.
Cogitat, a spinout from Imperial College London, is developing an AI-powered, brain-controlled interface for upper-limb stroke rehabilitation. The technology can be set up in under five minutes using any device, including sensors over the part of the brain involved in voluntary movement. The company’s Biomedical Catalyst feasibility study will create a cloud-based platform and interface, enabling robotic rehabilitation systems to be controlled by patients’ thoughts, which will be demonstrated at a leading UK rehabilitation centre, with feedback from stroke specialists.
Some of the other projects include:
- A system to detect cardiovascular disease
- The use of AI to speed up the discovery of more effective combinations of obesity drugs
- A wearable biosensor for at-home hormone monitoring
- A non-invasive alternative to smear tests
Industry-led R&D
Building on Biomedical Catalyst investment announced in June 2025, a further £1.9m to support an additional five innovative SMEs developing high-impact technologies that address global health challenges and demonstrate strong market potential.
These five companies are advancing solutions across engineering biology, advanced therapeutics, AI-powered healthcare delivery and med tech innovation. From in silico trials and programmable cell therapies, to smart wearables and next-generation antibiotics, each project is focused on generating robust evidence to support commercialisation.
The R&D funding helps build a pipeline of scalable, investable businesses ready to deliver patient benefit and economic growth.
“From AI that can spot the early signs of heart disease to wearable hormone monitoring devices that give women control of their health data, we are backing British innovation that harnesses technology’s power to transform people’s quality of life.
By investing in innovation up and down the country, including those built by women and for women, we can deliver better outcomes for patients and save taxpayers’ money.
– Liz Kendall, Science and Technology Secretary
The UK is uniquely placed to turn health research into real-world impact, with world-class universities, the NHS as a testbed for innovation, strong links across research, clinical and investment communities, and a globally competitive life sciences industry.
“Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst strengthens this ecosystem by supporting SMEs at every stage of development. By providing early funding and de-risking innovation, we help companies prove their potential, attract investment, and grow, unlocking the breakthroughs that make life better.
– Dr Stella Peace, Executive Director for Healthy Living and Agriculture Domain at Innovate UK
Funded Projects
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- 28X Ltd
Testing the feasibility of at-home menstrual blood donation for stem cell research and diagnostics, creating an ethical pathway to advance women’s health innovation - Anne’s Day Ltd
Feasibility study of a predictive algorithm for cervical cancer risk stratification and prevention - Emm Technology Ltd
Developing a smart menstrual cup that re-defines how menstrual flow – a key indicator of menstrual and overall health – is measured and studied - IVFmicro Ltd
Microfluidic systems for successful fertility treatment - JawSense Ltd
Trialling an evidence-based TMD app combining education, exercises, tracking and insights to prove engagement, validate usability, and earn clinician trust and recommendations - Level Zero Health Ltd
Feasibility study of an intermittent hormone monitoring device – a groundbreaking, minimally invasive wearable biosensor allowing at-home monitoring of hormones - Megi Health UK Ltd
EMPOWER-BP: Emotionally-intelligent, conversational AI to improve maternal pregnancy outcomes through women’s empowerment and remote self-management of blood pressure - MyBliss Ltd
Developing next-generation condoms designed to actively support vaginal health and address the high prevalence of irritation and infections in women - Ove Care Ltd
Testing an AI-powered assistant for menstrual health education, focusing on engagement, usability and willingness-to-pay among young women - Papcup Ltd
Demonstrating that their proprietary biosensor can accurately detect high-risk HPV in menstrual blood, proving the technology works reliably for real-world cervical screening - SIPS Clinic Ltd
Developing a digital platform with personalised support to improve the lives of women suffering from pregnancy sickness - Tecrea Ltd
Creating a dual-action antimicrobial and analgesic treatment for recurrent urinary tract infections, offering a non-antibiotic solution to this long-overlooked women’s health issue - Umbi Ltd
Umbi’s Postnatal 360: Assessing technical and commercial feasibility of a scalable, equitable digital solution for comprehensive postnatal care - Unravel Health Ltd
Technical feasibility of in vitro cartridge for in-home monitoring of hormones for faster diagnosis and personalised management - Upskill Health Ltd
Building an AI-powered learning platform for NHS maternity services that amplifies real women’s voices and improves patient safety, at scale
- 28X Ltd
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- Axiom Therapeutics Ltd
Developing a computational drug discovery platform using machine learning and physics simulations to create more precise, potent therapies for hard-to-treat diseases - Cardiovolt.AI Ltd
Cardiovolt.ai analyses a heart trace to detect silent diseases years before symptoms emerge. Through the Innovate UK feasibility award we will develop our software MVP and navigate regulatory approvals - Chiron Digital Health Ltd
Integrating AI-driven, more clinically effective self-care into NHS systems for wider patient access - Cogitat Ltd
Enabling stroke survivors to control rehabilitation robots through thought alone using our wearable brain-computer interface technology thereby actively controlling their therapy - Combinate Therapeutics Ltd
Combining AI predictions with experimental testing to identify synergistic drug combinations for obesity, enabling rational development of safer, more effective therapies. - Emerald Labs Ltd
Developing an AI health tool that transforms scattered data into personalised prevention insights, helping people understand risks earlier and take action to stay healthier, longer - EverMind AI Ltd
Smart game neurodiversity assessment in education to ensure the needs of every child are seen and met - GutSee Ltd
Reprogramming the gut: AI-optimised nucleases for targeted gut repair - Halo Heath Ltd
Designing agentic artificial intelligence that learns from user data to reinvent the way people live with diabetes - LightHearted AI Ltd
Valve disease progresses without symptoms until it’s too late, despite treatment being available. The UK healthcare system relies on symptoms and expensive diagnostics, so LightHearted built scalable solutions. The project will validate the economic case for its solution. - MolMart Ltd
Developing an interactive genetic counselling app to help individuals understand and manage inherited genetic risk, easing pressure on NHS genetic counselling services and shifting healthcare towards prevention over treatment. - Prosemble Group Ltd
Developing AI-driven protein nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery, initially focusing on lung cancer to reduce chemotherapy toxicity and side effects - ReproGo Ltd
Transforming medicine with an AI platform merging lab-grown human mini-organs and virtual models to tackle complex diseases and predict safer, patient-friendly drug responses - SynLaia Innovations Ltd
Developing a spatial mechanomics platform to uncover tissue-scale mechanical signatures, enabling precision biomarker and target discovery in hard-to-treat diseases like solid cancers and fibrosis - Wlness Science Ltd
Innovating AI-driven hormone self-testing with clinical support integration to improve perimenopause care, diagnosis, and management for women and clinicians
- Axiom Therapeutics Ltd
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- adsilico Ltd
Pioneering inclusive and representative evidence of medical device safety and efficacy based on synthetic virtual patients and in silico trials. - Bactobio Ltd
Developing novel antibiotics from previously unculturable bacteria to address antimicrobial resistance in E. coli-driven urinary tract infections, a major global health and economic threat - Frontier AI Ltd
Developing a generative-AI powered “healthcare workforce” to help solve the global healthcare workforce crisis - Laverock Therapeutics Ltd
Designing the next generation of programmable cells via non-disruptive recoding of cellular micro-RNAs. Validation of a future candidate anti-solid tumour macrophage therapy - SERG Technologies Ltd
SERG-MED: Parkinson’s ecosystem, powered by a smart wearable platform to provide remote and timely medication titration support
- adsilico Ltd
Related programme
Biomedical Catalyst
Accelerating the translation of innovative ideas and discoveries into healthcare solutions that improve lives. The Biomedical Catalyst transforms innovative ideas into commercially viable businesses. It delivers sector growth, de-risks innovation and gets companies investment ready.