Tortus

Market position

TORTUS describes itself as the first ambient voice technology deployed in NHS clinical care (September 2023), the first UK-based company to meet the NHS DTAC standard for this technology, the first in the world to register an AVT as an MHRA Class I medical device, and the first AVT certified as a UKCA Class IIa medical device. It reports co-running Europe's largest ambient-voice evaluation, results from which fed into the UK Government's NHS Ten Year Plan treatment of AVT.

The company frames its approach around evidence generation and regulatory rigour rather than rapid scaling: multi-site independently evaluated clinical trials, peer-reviewed publications on measuring clinical accuracy of ambient scribes, medical device certification, and a dedicated hallucination-detection system (The Shell) with published benchmarks. Its about page contrasts this 'tortoise' strategy with fast-moving health tech competitors.

Technology

Generative AI-based ambient voice technology combining speaker-diarised, locally encrypted audio capture, real-time note generation (visit notes, letters, referrals, pre-chart summaries, lab requests, coding), and supervised write-back actions into EHR systems. The Shell safety system checks generated statements against the source consultation and removes unsupported content; the company reports a 92.7% removal rate for detected hallucinations as a live platform metric and a 75% reduction in major hallucinations in peer-reviewed work in npj Digital Medicine. Integrations cover major NHS EHRs including Epic and Cerner, plus X-on and Avaya telephony, with a custom SDK for new integrations.

Go-to-market

Sales run through direct engagement with NHS trusts and services (demos for trusts), a distribution partnership with X-on Health that embeds the product into the phone lines of 3,500 GP surgeries, and partner/SDK integrations. Adoption is supported by clinical trials and independent evaluations with NHS bodies (Great Ormond Street Hospital, NHS England, GOSH DRIVE, NIHR HRC, University of Exeter) and by participation in programmes such as DigitalHealth.London, the National Innovation Accelerator and the MHRA AI Airlock.

NHS hospital trusts and services (emergency departments, outpatient clinics, ambulance clinical hubs), GP practices in primary care, and private healthcare organisations; the company has also stated early-stage partnering discussions in the UK, Canada and the United States.

Geography

Headquartered and office-based in Holborn, London, with a registered office at 5 Brayford Square, London E1 0SG. Deployments and evaluations are concentrated in the UK/NHS; in 2024 the company said it was in early stages of partnering with organisations in the UK, Canada and the United States.

History

TORTUS AI LTD was incorporated on 15 November 2022. A seed round led by Khosla Ventures was announced in February 2024 (the company's own timeline dates the seed to March 2023), alongside a first-of-its-kind research pilot with Great Ormond Street Hospital and NHS DTAC compliance. Phased NHS trials began in September 2023; a Phase IV multi-site trial backed by £500k from NHS England ran from March 2024 across nine sites and 17,000 patients. The company joined DigitalHealth.London in April 2024, published in npj Digital Medicine in June 2024, registered as an MHRA Class I medical device in November 2024, and joined the National Innovation Accelerator in December 2024. In March 2025 it announced a partnership with X-on Health covering 3,500 GP surgeries; first NHS secondary care deployments followed in September 2025. It entered Phase II of the MHRA AI Airlock in December 2025, launched The Shell in January 2026, and achieved UKCA Class IIa certification in June 2026.

Risks & controversies

A third-party profile updated July 2026 flags a runway concern, noting roughly 30 months since the last (seed) raise, and filed accounts showing a widening loss (£3.0M in 2024 versus £896K in 2023) and negative net assets of £474K at the 2024 year end. Sources also conflict on funding date and amount (February 2024 versus a March 2023 date on the company's own timeline; $4.2M in press coverage versus $4.4M on the company site). The core product risk area addressed by the company itself is AI hallucination and omission in clinical notes.