London has historically been a global centre for medicine, but the action has shifted from the consulting rooms of Harley Street to the AI labs of King’s Cross. The city offers a unique competitive advantage of the convergence of the golden triangle with research universities, deep capital pools, and the NHS which is arguably the world’s most valuable sandbox for health data.
For European observers, London is the testing ground for the future of care. The trends emerging here serve as blueprints for how Germany, France, and the Nordics will address ageing populations and rising costs in 2026. Here are the 10 London health-tech startups you need to watch.
Huma
Huma has rapidly evolved from a remote monitoring app into a full-scale “hospital at home” infrastructure. Led by Dan Vahdat, the company acquired the patient engagement assets of Google DeepMind early on, signalling its ambition. In 2026, Huma is tackling the bed-blocking crisis across Europe by enabling hospitals to discharge patients earlier and remotely monitoring their vitals via smartphones. Their recent partnerships with central German and UK insurers to reimburse digital-first care pathways position them as the logistical backbone of the decentralised hospital.
Zoe
Co-founded by Professor Tim Spector, Zoe started as a personalised nutrition company but has morphed into a metabolic health movement. By combining at-home gut microbiome testing with continuous glucose monitoring, they run the world’s most extensive ongoing nutritional science study. With over 100,000 members, they have proven that “one size fits all” diet advice is obsolete. Their data-driven approach to reducing inflammation and improving gut health is shifting the conversation from weight loss to longevity, resonating deeply with a European consumer base increasingly sceptical of processed foods.
Flo Health
Flo Health recently made headlines by becoming the first Femtech unicorn in Europe following a massive $200 million Series C investment. While headquartered in London, their impact is global, with over 380 million users tracking their cycles. They have moved beyond simple period monitoring to become a comprehensive reproductive health super-app, using AI to predict irregular cycles and flag potential health issues like PCOS. Their aggressive focus on data privacy and “Anonymous Mode” has set a new standard for trust in an era where health data security is paramount.
Kheiron Medical
Radiologists are facing burnout across Europe, and Kheiron Medical acts as their AI safety net. Founded by Dr Peter Kecskemethy and Tobias Rijken, their flagship tool, “Mia”, acts as a second reader for mammograms. Unlike standard CAD tools, Mia works independently to flag potential cancers that human eyes might miss due to fatigue and other limitations. Having deployed effectively within the NHS and expanded into Hungary and the Netherlands, they are proving that AI doesn’t replace doctors but gives them superpowers, detecting breast cancer earlier and reducing recall rates.
AccuRx
If you have ever received a text message from your GP in the UK, it was likely powered by AccuRx. Founded by Jacob Haddad and Laurence Bargery, they built the communication plumbing that kept the NHS running during the pandemic. They have since expanded into a comprehensive patient coordination platform that enables primary and secondary care teams to communicate, share records, and schedule appointments seamlessly. By solving the “fragmentation” problem without ripping out legacy systems, they have become the default operating system for patient communication.
Peppy
Peppy realised that traditional healthcare insurance ignores the messy, gender-specific moments of life: menopause, fertility, and early parenthood. Founders Mridula Pore, Evan Harris, and Max Landry built a B2B digital health platform that connects employees with specialist practitioners via chat. Major European employers, such as Santander and Wickes, now offer Peppy as a core benefit to retain female talent. They have effectively de-stigmatised menopause support in the workplace, turning it from a taboo subject into a standard corporate perk.
Automata
While biology is becoming a data science, the actual lab work is still often manual. Automata builds the robotic infrastructure that makes the Lab of the Future possible. Their “LINQ” platform automates the physical movement of samples between machines, enabling genomic labs to operate 24/7 without requiring human intervention. Backed by a $40 million raise, they are critical to the scaling of precision medicine. If the UK and Europe want to make DNA sequencing a standard part of healthcare, Automata’s robots will be the ones doing the heavy lifting.
Birdie
Europe’s population is ageing faster than care homes can be built. Birdie, led by Max Parmentier, is a care-tech platform that allows the elderly to stay at home longer. Their app digitises the paper trail of home care agencies, allowing families and doctors to track the well-being of a senior in real-time. By analysing data points like medication adherence and daily mood, Birdie’s AI can predict falls or health deterioration before they lead to a hospital admission. It is the digital safety net for the ageing-in-place generation.
Limbic
Mental health services are overwhelmed with demand, and Limbic provides an AI triage nurse to manage the influx. Their conversational AI assistant sits on the front door of mental health clinics, chatting with patients to assess their symptoms and risk levels, for example, anxiety or depression, before they see a human. It has achieved a 93% accuracy rate in classifying disorders, helping clinics prioritise high-risk patients. Having recently secured Class IIa medical device certification, Limbic is arguably the most clinically validated mental health AI in Europe.
BenevolentAI
BenevolentAI represents the deep tech end of the spectrum. Headquartered in the Knowledge Quarter at King’s Cross, they use AI to decipher the vast and complex code of human biology to find new drug targets. While the company has undergone a significant restructuring to focus on commercial efficiency, its platform remains one of the most powerful engines for uncovering treatments for complex diseases, such as glioblastoma. Their shift towards partnering with pharmaceutical giants like AstraZeneca allows them to apply their AI engine at scale, accelerating the pipeline for novel European therapeutics.