Siloton secures £8.4m Innovate UK contract for handheld eye scanner

Bristol-based medtech startup Siloton was awarded an £8.4 million, two-year contract from Innovate UK on October 14, 2026, to accelerate the development of its handheld retinal imaging system.

The funding comes through the Contracts for Innovation: Quantum Missions Primer initiative, managed by UK Research and Innovation. The contract will support the development and clinical testing of both in-clinic and at-home versions of Siloton's GiraffeOCT device, which uses optical coherence tomography to monitor retinal health.

Siloton expects the contract to shorten its product development timeline by up to two years. Traditional retinal scanning systems are large and expensive, but Siloton compresses the required optical components onto a single chip smaller than a £1 coin.

Under the agreement, Siloton will conduct clinical trials in partnership with Sunderland Specialist Eye Hospital, providing patient access across the North East and North Cumbria. York Health Economics Consortium will analyze data from the trials to refine cost-saving estimates for the National Health Service.

Ophthalmology recorded approximately nine million outpatient attendances in England during 2023/24, making it the busiest outpatient specialty in the NHS. Figures cited in the announcement show that nearly 623,000 patients were waiting for appointments at the end of July 2026.

Siloton aims to expand its workforce across its Bristol and London sites to 16 employees by August 2028. The new roles in photonics, electronics, and software development will support system miniaturization, UK manufacturing, and product development.

The company also plans to seek additional private investment to strengthen its balance sheet and fund the development of its second-generation CheetahOCT device, which measures specific retinal layers.

“Winning this Innovate UK contract allows us to accelerate the development of our systems, explore manufacturing and assembly in the UK, and help a groundbreaking new technology be adopted by the NHS more quickly,” said Alasdair Price, chief executive of Siloton. “Many early-stage companies struggle to get beyond the well-known ‘valley of death’ in developing new products – particularly in healthcare – but this will support us through that crucial phase, bringing the Siloton system closer to being in patients’ hands and building a technology that can be used worldwide.”