Former Pitchfest winner CardMedic secures £500k funding

CardMedic, the frontline healthcare language app and previous Digital Health Rewired Pitchfest champion, has been awarded almost £500,000 in funding from SBRI Healthcare to help develop an AI-enabled language portal.

The 12-month project aims to improve access to real-time language support at the point of care within NHS urgent and emergency care settings, which will in turn help improve patient safety and tackle health inequality.

The SBRI Healthcare funding will support CardMedic, who were crowned Rewired Pitchfest champion in 2022, with the technical development of the new portal, as well as patient engagement initiatives and clinical validation.

Tim Grimaldi, cofounder of CardMedic, said: “The current barriers to equitable care that many patients face, particularly those with language barriers or communication difficulties, remain a significant challenge.

“SBRI’s support will help us bring our solution to more patients and healthcare workers who desperately need better ways to communicate where barriers exist, and help the NHS meet its immediate and longer-term needs as efficiently as possible.

“Less than 3% of innovations secure grant-funding, so we’re incredibly humbled by the acknowledgement this award represents.”

The portal will provide access to thousands of pre-translated clinical interactions currently available via the CardMedic Frontline app, plus speedier access to real-time interpreter and language services.

CardMedic’s app gives frontline healthcare staff fast access to a suite of clinically validated language and communication support services.

It is used by over 25 healthcare providers across the UK and in the US to better communicate with patients with limited English proficiency, those with disabilities and sensory impairments, and people with lower health literacy.

The £499,683 in funding awarded to the start-up comes as part of a larger £3.9 million award by SBRI Healthcare, an Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) initiative in partnership with the Health Innovation Network, awarded to nine companies focused on improving urgent and emergency care.

Verena Stocker, director of innovation, research, life sciences and strategy at NHS England, and chief executive of the AAC, said: “The SBRI Healthcare awards help the NHS develop new technologies to address some of the biggest challenges in healthcare.

“We have selected these innovations because they have the potential to make a significant difference in urgent and emergency care.”

The latest version of the CardMedic app, a cornerstone of the new portal, has been downloaded by nearly 400 members of staff at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust since its roll out in January 2024.

Meanwhile, in February 2025, women’s health innovations received a £1.3m boost from SBRI Healthcare in partnership with the Health Innovation Network, funded by the AAC.