Tetra AI secures £450k pre-seed to optimise NHS theatre lists with AI
This article covers Tetra AI, a healthtech startup that has raised £450,000 in a pre-seed funding round to build an AI system to help NHS hospitals plan and optimise surgical theatre lists. The funding will support extended pilots, deeper hospital integrations and product development aimed at improving theatre utilisation and reducing delays for elective patients.
Tetra AI, a healthtech startup, has raised £450,000 in a pre-seed funding round to build an AI system that helps NHS hospitals plan and optimise surgical theatre lists. The funding will be used to extend pilots, deepen hospital integrations and continue product development for a tool aimed at improving theatre utilisation and reducing delays.
Why it matters
The announcement targets a persistent operational pressure point for the NHS. More than 7.3 million people are currently on the elective waiting list in England. Operating theatres are expensive to run — costs are typically at least £20 per minute, or more than £1,200 per hour — and a single full-time theatre can cost upwards of £2.3 million a year. Small inefficiencies in list planning can compound into lost capacity, staff strain and longer patient waits.
Tetra AI’s focus on theatre scheduling addresses those behind-the-scenes processes that materially affect throughput and waiting times even when clinical resources and policy attention are available.
Inside the product
Tetra AI is developing software that models operational constraints such as variability in case durations, staffing availability, speciality requirements and cancellation risk. The platform uses that analysis to predict and recommend how to structure and fill theatre lists, with the stated aim of making day-to-day planning more predictable and adaptable.
The company positions the tool as decision support for theatre and operational teams rather than a replacement for clinical judgement. It is currently piloting the system with Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, working on live elective lists with theatre and operational staff.
Who are the investors?
The pre-seed round is backed by a group of UK angel and early-stage investors with operational and founding experience.
Investors named by Tetra AI include Michael Pennington, co-founder of Gumtree; Charlie Delingpole, co-founder of ComplyAdvantage; Andrew Mullinger, former chief operating officer at Funding Circle; and Chris Adelsbach, partner at Outrun Ventures.
Tetra AI says the funding will support continued product development, expansion of NHS pilots and deeper integration with hospital operational workflows. The mix of founders, former operators and early-stage investors suggests a focus on scaling product-market fit within NHS operational teams rather than consumer-facing adoption.
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Founder perspective
The company was founded by Jamie Papasavvas and Thomas Babb. Tetra AI has framed the round as an opportunity to iterate the product on live theatre lists and to build integrations that fit within existing hospital workflows. The team has emphasised practical deployment in partnership with theatre teams and NHS operational leads as the priority for the next phase.
The bigger picture
Most healthtech investment has flowed into diagnostics, therapeutics and patient-facing apps. Tetra AI’s approach — targeting operational software for surgical throughput — reflects a narrower submarket: tools that aim to increase capacity and efficiency inside hospitals. The deal will test appetite among healthtech investors for companies focused on these operational inefficiencies rather than clinical innovation.
If pilots demonstrate measurable improvements in utilisation and throughput, the product could appeal to other trusts across the UK and potentially to hospital systems in Europe facing similar waiting list pressures. The outcome will be an early indicator of whether operational healthtech can attract repeated investment and scale within public healthcare settings.
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