A British health AI company has been wound up after failing to win any contracts under a government innovation scheme.
Behold.ai went into administration last week, HSJ can reveal.
The company, whose work includes AI assistance in lung and head scans, was set up by the founders of Medica, one of the largest private teleradiology firms working with the NHS.
Behold.ai owner and chief executive Simon Rasalingham said in a letter to Lord Darzi that his “was the only British AI company in the field, which was proven, regulated and commercially-deployed”, but did not win any contracts in a national £21m AI diagnostic fund last year.
HSJ reported last year on the bulk of the contracts going to an Australian firm with other work going to BT, Sectra and India-based Qure.ai.
Lord Darzi, director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College, is influential on government, and is currently co-chair of the 10-Year Health Plan working group on innovation, among other roles.
In his letter to the peer, Mr Rasalingham called for an inquiry into the procurement process, writing that “taxpayers’ money [had gone] to support overseas AI competition at the expense of British AI companies”.
Behold.ai currently supplies lung cancer AI systems to several NHS organisations, as well as AI-assisted head scans in accident and emergency departments.
Data from HSJ Intelligence shows the company supplies 10 acute trusts, mainly in the south of England, which collectively spent around £2.1m with the firm.
Mr Rasalingham’s letter, seen by HSJ, said: “There was no shortage of British ambition on our side, we tried to embody true entrepreneurial spirit, using proven lifesaving AI, to create social and economic value for the benefit of everyone in Great Britain. This could have been a great British export opportunity to support growth.
Date: 28 January