TidalSense, a Cambridge-based AI respiratory diagnostics company, has shared that it has successfully raised £16 million in funding to accelerate the European and US commercialisation of its AI diagnostic device for COPD.
This latest announcement means that TidalSense has now raised £34 million to date, including a reported £9 million in grants from UK bodies such as NIHR, Innovate UK, and Asthma-Lung UK.
According to the company, its N-Tidal Diagnose software, CE marked under EU MDR (Class IIa) for COPD, “uses AI-analysed tidal breathing — rather than the forced exhalation required by spirometry — to deliver a fast, non-invasive diagnosis of COPD in under five minutes, without specialist training or hospital-grade equipment”.
The software’s AI diagnostic models were trained on over 2.5 million patient breaths, TidalSense claims, scoring above 90 percent for key metrics of diagnostic accuracy in its first post-market validation at the European Respiratory Society congress in 2025.
Patients breathe normally into a handheld device for 75 seconds to capture a CO2 waveform, or capnogram, TidalSense explains, which is then analysed by AI models to detect COPD. Estimates are that the use of the software allows clinicians to see approximately four-to-six patients per hour, compared with roughly one patient per hour for traditional spirometry methods.
In the UK, N-Tidal Diagnose has been commissioned by Suffolk and North East Essex ICB, and is in use at NHS Wales, Glasgow, and community lung screening clinics in the South of England.
CEO Ameera Patel highlights that COPD has now been recognised by WHO as a global health priority, saying: “We’re still diagnosing in the 21st century with a test invented in the 1800s, and one that needs specialist equipment and training most of the world doesn’t have access to. Lower income and minority communities pay the price for that first. That’s the gap we want to close at TidalSense, and the NHS is the first place we’re doing it.”
University Hospital Southampton consultant respiratory physician Hannah Burke, reflected on the use of N-Tidal Diagnose as part of community lung health events delivered in integrated neighbourhood hubs, commenting: “Taking diagnostics out into the community gives us the opportunity to reach people at risk of lung disease who might otherwise remain undiagnosed until their symptoms become more severe.”
Wider trend: Innovation in diagnostics
Innovate UK has recognised 100 female founders in its latest Women in Innovation cohort, focusing on manufacturing, digital tech, and life sciences, with innovations spanning wearable tech, diagnostics, and AI. 61 of those selected will be receiving a £75,000 grant, along with 12 months of business support and training, Innovate UK reports. The remaining 31 applicants will also receive the 12 months of business support. Some of the projects named by Innovate UK include wearable tech to detect dehydration risk in older adults, looking to prevent avoidable illnesses and reduce hospital admissions. Mary-Brenda Akoda, another successful applicant, is using AI to reduce MRI scanning time by up to 90 percent.
Humber and North Yorkshire Collaboration of Acute Providers annual report for 2025/26 has shared achievements across imaging, diagnostics and order comms, with discussion on next steps and the future of acute care in the region. AI for fracture detection has been implemented across York and Scarborough sites, Scunthorpe General Hospital, and Diana Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby, with the CAP reporting “seamless integration” into existing picture archiving and communication systems workflows, and more than 45,000 case studies processed as part of the pilot.
NHS England has published a preliminary market engagement notice seeking to explore the feasibility of establishing end-t0-end diagnostic testing pathways for the NHS Online virtual hospital service. The notice outlines NHS England’s intent to use information gathered from the engagement to inform the future commercial and sourcing strategy for diagnostic access, looking at the provider capabilities, digital maturity, and interoperability required to support digital test ordering, appointment booking, and digital notification of results.
