The healthcare startups that will be improving lives in 2025

We’ve just launched our latest edition of our very own 2025 Startups 100 Index: a ranking of the UK based startups that our judges deemed to be the most unique, innovative and beneficial to society. Out of the top 10 entries, three of those are startups from the healthcare sector, including our winner Lottie.

The healthcare sector is a perpetually growing industry, with NHS England’s budget alone increasing from £171B for 2023/24 to £192B for 2025/26. It can be a fertile ground for investment, fostering groundbreaking ideas that are set to improve our lives. We’ve provided a roundup of the 12 of the most cutting-edge healthcare startups who have been bringing much-need improvements to outdated healthcare issues, and demonstrating what a thrilling space this can be for innovation:

1. Lottie

Founders:

• Will Donnelly
• Chris Donnelly

Lottie emerged as not just the number one healthcare startup, but our overall number one startup for 2025. Founded by brothers Chris and Will Donnelly after struggling to find suitable care for their Nan, Lottie is a truly disruptive solution to a serious healthcare issue in the UK. It’s a digital platform that seeks to simplify social care by connecting loved ones with high-quality, fully vetted social homes, at-home care, and retirement living services, with the ability to compare fees standing out as one of its strongest services.

Lottie first came across our radar back in 2021, and since then have only gone from strength to strength, with the total funding now reaching an incredible £25m. Lottie marketplace is the key service, but they have grown to introduce CRM software, an employee benefits platform and data insights tool. The brothers wanted to untangle a confusing and costly system that is frequently used by people in stressful, high-emotion situations. That’s exactly what they’re achieving, and we couldn’t be prouder to showcase them, and their values-based approach to care, as our number one startup in 2025.

2. Gaia Family

Founders:

• Nader AlSalim

IVF treatment can be complicated, emotionally draining, and extremely expensive. The cost can often be a significant barrier to those hoping to start a family. Making it into the top five overall startups in our 2025 Index, Gaia Family has the commendable goal of providing a transparent and flexible payment system for those seeking IVF treatment. The idea was born from founder Nader AlSalim’s own struggle with IVF, and he wanted to create a more accessible solution for others.

You pay an upfront protection fee to Gaia, then Gaia will pay for your treatment costs on your behalf. If the treatment is successful, you’ll repay for the cycles you completed in monthly installments for up to eight years. If you’re unsuccessful, you won’t pay for any of your treatment. With such a strong funding pitch, it’s no wonder Gaia has raised just over £18m from several key investors, and so far they have helped 100 babies into the world. We love their empathy-centric approach to family building, and consider this healthcare startup to grow in 2025.

3. Eolas Medical

Founders:

• Dr. Declan Kelly

Eolas Medical is a knowledge platform designed for clinicians, by clinicians. Dr. Declan Kelly was frustrated with his outdated, archaic management system, and decided there needed to be a more modernised solution to assist medical professionals. This inspired him to start a business that could consolidate thousands of documents (which previously could only be accessed through multiple separate systems) into one unified platform.

The app had amassed an impressive £2m in funding in 2022, and now Eolas Medical is being used by just under 200,000 users across the UK, US and Ireland. Seeing an incredible 300% increase in users just over the last year alone, and is now used by 80% of NHS Trusts. That’s some seriously impressive growth, and a testament to the much needed gap in the market Eolas Medical has helped fill, with its commitment to becoming the most trusted source of medical knowledge for clinicians in the UK, US and Ireland.

4. Lindus Health

Founders:

• Michael Young
• Meri Beckwith
• Nik Haldimann

After participating in a clinical trial and experiencing firsthand how inefficient they can be, Lindus Health co-founder Meri Beckwith decided to fix the broken system and put the patient first. The main product, Citrus, automates tasks like screenings and setting appointments, freeing up resources.

Billing themselves as “The Anti-CRO for Life Science Pioneers”, the startup provides an end-to-end solution, combining their software with an in-house team to prevent clients from having to patch together multiple solutions. Lindus Health has now enrolled over 20,000 patients in their clinical trials, and their all-in-one CRO is improving clinical trials for every party involved. Within the next five years, they are set on becoming the default choice for companies looking to bring health and drug treatments to market.

5. Strolll

Founders:

• Tom Finn
• Jorgen Ellis

Stroll has now found its way onto the Startups 100 Index for three years in a row, and for good reason. The startup is taking a revolutionary approach to therapeutic software with its cutting-edge augmented reality glasses. Strolll’s mission is to provide immersive rehabilitation through AR, seamlessly blending digital content with your real environment. The clinically-validated AR can be used in the clinic or at home, and provides rehab therapy at any time, no matter the setting.

Tom Finn founded Strolll after caring for his father, who suffered from vascular parkinsonism. Finn has remained committed to selling through healthcare providers, as opposed to directly to the consumer, to keep Strolll affordable for those who need it. Strolll has already seen high-demand since debuting at conference last year, and is set to improve patient-care with its groundbreaking approach to neuro-rehabilitation.

6. Untap

Founders:

• Claire Trant

In a post-COVID world, not many people need to be made aware of the importance of early illness detection. Untap Health uses technology that is able to detect the one infected person within a group of 10,000, with what it claims is 95% sensitivity and 99% specificity. Where it really stands out from competitors is that its design is able to fit under a manhole, and tests sewage for traces of diseases (it might not be pretty, but it’s pretty important).

Untap Health’s tech is designed to be plug-and-play, and repurposed and rapidly deployed with relative ease. Untap Health’s disease-detecting technology is aimed to be used in workplaces, care homes, cruise ships, hospitals, and virtually any environment that is susceptible to an outbreak: its mission is to ‘contain the diseases of today, preventing the pandemic of tomorrow’.

7. Novai

Founders:

• Professor. M. Francesca Cordeiro

Preventing damage to your eyes from glaucoma can often be a race against time, the faster it’s detected the more chance you have of preventing damage to the optic nerve. Sadly, most glaucoma diagnoses come far too late, but this is where Novai enters the picture. With its DARC (Detection of Apoptosing Retinal Cells) Technology, it’s able to identify disease at a cellular level, years prior to any physical changes, and far earlier than conventional diagnostics.

The technology was developed by a group of researchers from University College London, including Novai founder Professor. M. Francesca Cordeiro. Novai has already secured major contracts with leading pharmaceutical companies, and its next goal is FDA and EMA regulatory approval. DARC offers a unique method to detect ocular stress early on, and is currently able to predict disease progression up to 36 months earlier than OCT.

8. Siloton

Founders:

• Dr Alasdair Price
• Dr Euan Allen
• Dr Ben Hunt

Live eye-imaging, used for eye care and preventing blindness, was a practice that has historically only been used for academic purposes. Siloton holds the unique position of becoming the first company to do this commercially. In 2024, they produced its first live eye image using its “Akepa” chip. Akepa is Siliton’s first-generation OCT chip, and it’s used for remote monitoring: patients can scan their own eyes at home, preventing a trip to the hospital.

Siloton has already established relationships with key institutions like Moorfields Eye Hospital and Bristol Eye Hospital, and has raised £1.7m in funding. The Bristol-based startup wants to use its ground-breaking chip technology to help millions of people from suffering retinal damage and diseases, making sure patients can receive sight-scans even without access to a hospital.

9. Enbiosis Biotechnology

Founders:

• Ozkan Ufuk Nalbantoglu
• Aycan Gundogdu
• Omer Ozkan

Gut health has been a trending interest in recent years, with more and more people beginning to realise how critical it is to take care of your gut microbiome. Enbiosis Biotechnology is providing personalised care for your gut, powered through AI. While other companies provide microbiome support, Enbiosis stands out from the crowd by providing tailored food and supplement programmes that address over 90% of chronic conditions, not just a one-size-fits-all approach.

Enbiosis begins with sending out the analysis kit to patients, and ends with a personalised microbiome analysis report, food recommendations and prebiotic and probiotic suggestions. Enbiosis has been making some great strides, having published its third multicenter clinical study in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, which it believes proves its argument that its personalised approach is superior to current, industry-standard, low FODMAP diet.

10. XR Therapeutics

Founders:

• Morag Maskey
• Billy Webber

The median NHS waiting time has increased from 7.7 weeks in 2019, to a current staggering 14 weeks. XR Therapeutics wants to cut wait times for patients down, and they’re achieving this through custom-built immersive XR (extended reality) technology, which assists with the effectiveness of taking therapies for those suffering anxiety disorders. They’ve been seeing some impressive results, with XR Therapeutics claiming the treatment “has been proven to be 95% effective in showing improved patient outcomes that lead to lasting positive changes”.

XR Therapeutics has now collaborated with five NHS Trusts across England, and secured £925,000 in investment funding led by the North East Innovation Fund. Alongside their cutting-edge XR technology, they’ve also launched their new service, Boundless, that virtually connects therapists with patients. Next, they want to scale the XRT to help as many people as possible: they’re planning to develop the technology to assist patients suffering from PTSD, psychosis, and other mental health conditions.

11. PharmAppy

Founders:

• Rhys Lloyd
• Nick Lloyd
• Josh Ablett

For many, a trip to the pharmacy can be a frustrating experience, especially when waiting on potentially critical medication, something co-founders Rhys Lloyd and Nick Lloyd witnessed with their own grandparents’ struggle to manage their prescriptions. Outdated paperwork and outmoded systems meant that patients could feel completely disconnected, with pharmacies overwhelmed with high-volumes of calls. PharmAppy wants to make things easier, and they’ve done this by introducing the only patient app fully-embedded into a pharmacy’s workflow.

PhamAppy is a patient app that streamlines the process, allowing users to track and order medication, as well as booking pharmacy services and messaging their pharmacist from the app. The co-founders have already closed a six-figure investment, and partnership, deal with Tariq Muhammad, CEO of Invatech Health. The North-West based startup has also teamed up with one of the top ten largest UK pharmacies to use PhamAppy tech to build a new patient-facing solution.

12. Cogs AI

Founders:

• Zareen Ali
• Felix de Grey

Neurodivergent mental health can sadly be an often overlooked or mishandled community within the healthcare sector. That’s why Cogs AI are utilising software, tech and data to build a mental health app that’s specifically made to support neurodivergent people. Tired of seeing ineffective, general-purpose, and one-size-fits all approaches to neurotypical minds, co-founders Ali and de Grey wanted to provide a better solution for mental health.

Cogs AI is made by neurodivergent minds, for neurodivergent minds. It’s already raised £650k in early stage funding, is being used in the NHS and has “helped neurodivergent people improve their anxiety and depression symptoms by 32%”. Having already helped many neurodiverse minds and bodies in the UK, Cogs AI is next set to expand to the US, and hopes to be the dominant brand for neurodivergent mental health in both countries.

Summary

It’s inspiring to see so many unique, innovative and disruptive solutions to problems that have been plaguing our health, both physical and mental. With advancements in tech like AI and extended/virtual reality now being used for human-centric care and solutions, as well as a trend towards tailored medicine, these startups are working hard to ensure the UK receives hyper-effective care and treatment.

If you’d like to read more about more diverse and dynamic startups, you can dive into the full, talent-packed list on our freshly launched Startups 100 Index for 2025.