Pontiro Raises £357,500 to Scale Healthcare AI Infrastructure

Pontiro™, the Welsh health tech company enabling safe and compliant use of medical imaging data for research and AI, has raised £357,500 in a funding round led by SFC Capital, with participation from Plug and Play Ventures and British Business Bank.

The investment marks a pivotal step in Pontiro's journey, from solving critical operational challenges within NHS Wales to building the infrastructure layer that helps healthcare organisations measure the real-world impact of AI.

Built Inside the NHS

Pontiro was founded to address a significant bottleneck: preparing medical imaging data safely and compliantly for research and AI development was slow, manual and resource-intensive.

Today, the platform has processed more than 2 million medical images across NHS Wales, supporting secure anonymisation, AI validation case studies, and teaching workflows across multiple health boards. By replacing fragmented manual processes with automated tools built directly into hospital systems, Pontiro has reduced turnaround times while lowering compliance risk.

"Pontiro was built inside the NHS, alongside the teams who use it every day. That matters. With this investment, we're taking infrastructure that already works at scale in Wales and making it available to trusts across the UK who are navigating the same challenges."

Lewis Bowen, Co-Founder

The Problem We're Solving

As AI adoption accelerates across healthcare, expectations are shifting. Safe data access is no longer enough. Healthcare leaders increasingly need evidence that AI deployments are delivering measurable operational value.

In 2026, Pontiro will launch its AI evaluation and ROI measurement platform, developed through a £50,000 Innovate UK Growth Catalyst grant. The platform provides structured, real-world evidence of AI performance within live clinical workflows, giving procurement teams and clinical leaders the data they need to make informed deployment decisions.

"Working closely with NHS teams in live clinical environments is what drives us. Our goal is to provide tools that make workflows safer, faster, and more reliable."

Adam Shannon, Co-Founder

"This raise validates both the problem and our approach, but none of it happens without the team we've built. Getting to this point, processing millions of images inside live NHS environments, took people who genuinely care about getting it right. I'm incredibly proud of what we've delivered together, and I know the best of it is still ahead of us."

Evan Jenkins, Co-Founder

What's Next

"Pontiro has built proven, compliant infrastructure inside the NHS, processing over two million medical images. Their move into AI evaluation and ROI measurement addresses a real and growing need. We're pleased to back the team as they scale this beyond Wales."

Adam Beveridge, Principal at SFC Capital

The funding will support expansion beyond Wales into NHS England trusts, with early conversations already underway with organisations exploring AI evaluation frameworks. The company is also progressing towards inclusion on national procurement frameworks to streamline adoption across the public sector.

Pontiro is proud to be supported by the Cyber Innovation Hub and the Alacrity Foundation, whose guidance and backing have been instrumental from the early days.

To learn more or get in touch, contact us at [email protected].