TidalSense raises £14m to expand five-minute COPD test across NHS

Cambridge health tech company TidalSense has secured £14.2m in funding led by Cross-Border Impact Ventures to expand its AI-powered lung disease test across the NHS and into Europe and the US.

The investment, which also includes returning backers BGF, Airstream Capital and Foresight Group, will fund the rollout of a handheld diagnostic device that can detect chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in as little as five minutes.

It will also support the development of software to diagnose asthma using the same platform.

Donna Parr is managing partner at Cross-Border Impact Ventures.

She said: We look for technology that doesn’t just have a compelling story, but a body of clinical evidence behind it.

“TidalSense has both, with a CEO who has lived the problem she’s solving, and a product that’s already live within the NHS healthcare environment, saving time for patients who have waited years for an answer.

“It is also technology that can improve access to appropriate treatment for COPD sufferers on a global basis and especially for women who are often misdiagnosed.

“This is exactly the kind of impact we want to make with our investments.”

COPD, a progressive condition that restricts airflow and makes breathing increasingly difficult, is the third leading cause of death in England, according to the NHS.

It is responsible for about 30,000 deaths each year and costs the health service an estimated £1.9bn annually.

The company believes its technology could transform how respiratory disease is diagnosed by replacing the need for conventional spirometry in many settings.

Patients simply breathe normally into the handheld device for 75 seconds while artificial intelligence analyses the breath in real time.

A diagnosis is then displayed on screen, allowing clinicians to complete the entire process in around five minutes.

TidalSense says the technology allows clinicians to assess as many as six patients an hour, compared with roughly one an hour using spirometry, which has remained the standard diagnostic test for COPD despite changing little since it was first developed in the 19th century.

Spirometry requires patients to perform forceful breathing manoeuvres and typically needs specialist staff to administer.

TidalSense chief executive Ameera Patel said: “Our ambition is really bold and broad, and it is to have a really significant impact at a population level on chronic respiratory diseases like COPD and asthma.

“We want the test to be available to anyone the first time they present with symptoms, so there’s no bias in accessibility based on where you live, your socio-economic status or your ethnicity.”

Founded in 2013 by chief engineering officer Julian Carter, who holds a PhD in microelectronics and has more than 35 years’ experience developing medical devices, TidalSense has spent more than a decade building the technology.

Its AI models have been trained on more than 2.5 million recorded breaths to identify the distinctive patterns associated with COPD.

The device was introduced into the NHS last year and is now being used by public health providers in Suffolk, north-east Essex, Wales, Glasgow and community lung screening clinics across the south of England.