Stockport-based Silveray, which is developing uses for digital X-ray film, said it has raised £4 million in seed funding for its first product launch in 2025.
The funding is being led by Northern Gritstone’s seed extension consortium, including existing investor ACF Investors and new co-investors Empirical Ventures, Deeptech Labs, and Hamamatsu Ventures.
Since initial funding in 2023, Silveray has accelerated product development using its sensitive flexible material that converts x-rays into digital x-ray images at the point of use. The seed round will enable the company to complete development of its first DXF product ready to launch in 2025 to industrial users of radiographic film.
Digital images generated at the point of use save time and money compared with traditional radiographic film. Silveray’s flexible DXF detectors can also be wrapped around pipes and fed into tight spaces to check for corrosion and weld defects unlike existing rigid digital flat panel detectors.
Silveray plans at a later stage to apply its material to healthcare where a flexible mammography detector, for example, could be shaped around the breast without the need for uncomfortable compression.
Northern Gritstone is an independent business owned by its management team, a series of blue chip institutions, several of the largest local authority pension funds in the North of England as well as a number of high net worth individuals. Northern Gritstone’s founding partners, the universities of Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield, each have a small shareholding.st
Duncan Johnson, CEO of Northern Gritstone, said: “The progress made by the Silveray team since our initial investment in 2023 has been phenomenal. Dan Cathie and his team have the enviable combination of innovation and entrepreneurialism having developed a novel digital x-ray solution with numerous applications which are already disrupting the analogue x-ray market. We are delighted to continue our support of Silveray as it builds its commercial traction, helping the team on its path to success.”
Dan Cathie, CEO of Silveray said: “Silveray’s initial goal is to digitise radiographic film, so that radiographers are no longer restricted to exposing, developing, viewing, and storing film. Early customer engagement in industrial means we are confident of becoming revenue generating in 2025 and Northern Gritstone’s investment will help us achieve that.”