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 Instead of Googling or going through outdated local websites or intranets, Medwise.ai enables clinicians to find the information they need to make decisions for patients rapidly at the point of care.”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. 

Ends

PHOTO: (left to right): Luis Ulloa, chief technology officer, and Keith Tsui, chief executive, Medwise.ai

Notes to Editors

About Finance Yorkshire 

Finance Yorkshire’s regional Fund provides flexible investment packages to eligible SMEs based or moving to areas within Yorkshire and Humber with ambitions to expand, create jobs and improve productivity. 

The fund provides four main products, structured to back businesses through critical stages of growth: Micro-Loans, Business Loans, Growth Fund (loans and equity) and Seedcorn. 

Finance Yorkshire’s Growth and Seedcorn Funds are managed by Anticus Partners. Its Micro-Loans and Business Loans are managed by FSE Group.

The sustainable fund has been created from the legacy finance available from Finance Yorkshire’s previous support for SMEs alongside legacy finance from the former South Yorkshire Investment Fund (SYIF).

Finance Yorkshire was established in 2010 to provide gap finance through debt and equity investments to SMEs across Yorkshire and Humber.

This Fund and Extension Fund saw £113 million invested in 500 companies in Yorkshire and the Humber between 2010 and 2017

Finance Yorkshire’s previous investments created and safeguarded more than 16,000 jobs, enabling those businesses to increase their turnover by a total of £474m and attract a further £374m from private sector sources. 

For more information, please visit www.finance-yorkshire.com  or call 0300 030 6060.

About Deeptech Labs

Deeptech Labs is an accelerator, VC fund and the catalyst for deeptech success.

Twice a year, its cohort of start-ups are embedded in a powerful network of successful entrepreneurs, expert practitioners, leading researchers and deeptech organisations worldwide.

Deeptech Labs is founded by ARM, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Martlet Capital, Ewan Kirk and the University of Cambridge – forefront institutions and individuals at the heart of the Cambridge and global technology ecosystems.