LONDON — A UK-based healthtech startup developing artificial intelligence tools to prevent hospital-acquired infections has closed a €1 million pre-seed funding round, as healthcare systems globally continue to grapple with the growing threat of drug-resistant pathogens spreading within clinical settings.
NEX Health Intelligence, founded by Dr Ashleigh Myall and Dr Chang Ho Yoon, announced the raise this week. The round was led by Brighteye Ventures, with backing from Adeline Arts & Science, AFI Ventures, Momentous Ventures, the Conception X Angel Syndicate, and a group of angel investors from the healthcare industry.
The company says its AI-powered platform is designed to help hospitals detect, predict, and prevent healthcare-associated infections before they spread between patients, an area that currently accounts for significant patient harm, extended hospital stays, and rising operational costs across health systems worldwide.
From the NHS COVID Response to an AI Startup
The idea for NEX came directly out of the pandemic. Dr Myall was working on the NHS COVID-19 response when he observed how rapidly infections could move through hospital wards among already vulnerable patients.
"While supporting the NHS COVID-19 response, I realised the real challenge wasn't just the number of admissions. It was how quickly infections spread between vulnerable patients already inside hospitals," Dr Myall said.
He went on to pursue a PhD at Imperial College London, where he began building AI systems to model how infections could travel through hospital environments. He later teamed up with Dr Chang Ho Yoon to turn that research into a commercial product.
Platform Already Active Across NHS and International Sites
NEX says its platform has already supported infection safety monitoring across more than 40,000 patient admissions internationally.
In the United Kingdom, the company is currently running evaluation projects at two London NHS Trusts and has a live deployment in the North West of England. Beyond the UK, NEX is operating at a military hospital in Southeast Asia and has active projects underway in Malaysia.
The company also reported a notable improvement in infection control compliance rates following its most recent product release, though it did not disclose specific figures.
Funds to Support Expansion and Clinical Evidence
The fresh capital will be used to expand the platform across additional UK and international hospital sites. NEX also plans to invest in regulatory and clinical safety work, as well as building out the body of clinical and economic evidence from its existing deployments, a prerequisite for wider NHS adoption and international regulatory approval.
Healthcare-associated infections remain a persistent and costly problem for hospitals worldwide. Highly resistant strains, in particular, continue to place pressure on clinical teams and drive up the cost of care. Existing surveillance methods rely heavily on manual monitoring and are often too slow to prevent transmission once an outbreak is underway.
NEX's approach is to use AI to process patient data and movement patterns in real time, surfacing transmission risks early enough for infection control teams to act.
Investor Backing Signals Growing Interest in Clinical AI
The involvement of Brighteye Ventures, a fund that typically backs companies in education and human capital, reflects a broader expansion of investor interest into AI tools with measurable real-world outcomes in institutional settings.
For NEX, the pre-seed round marks the beginning of a longer journey toward becoming a standard tool in hospital infection prevention. With NHS partnerships already in place and international deployments providing early evidence of impact, the company is positioning itself at the intersection of clinical need and AI capability.
