£8.4m · Other round · Semiconductors · Bristol, UK
Siloton, a Bristol photonics company developing portable retinal-imaging systems, has secured an £8.4m two-year contract from Innovate UK through the Contracts for Innovation: Quantum Missions Primer programme. The company says the non-dilutive agreement will accelerate in-clinic and at-home versions of its GiraffeOCT system and fund trials of both.
This is a public innovation contract rather than an equity investment. Siloton says it plans a separate investment round after the award; no amount, timing or terms for that prospective financing have been disclosed.
Moving optical coherence tomography beyond specialist rooms
Optical coherence tomography uses light to produce depth-resolved images of the retina, helping clinicians diagnose and monitor eye disease. Existing systems are typically large, costly and concentrated in hospitals or optometry clinics. Siloton’s approach puts photonic components onto a chip smaller than a £1 coin, allowing the company to design a binocular-style scanner for clinics and, eventually, patients’ homes.
The contract links product development to a defined public-sector deployment pathway. Sunderland Specialist Eye Hospital will trial the in-clinic device, while York Health Economics Consortium will use trial data to refine estimates of potential NHS savings. Siloton also plans to integrate its second-generation BlueJay chip and expand the cloud platform supporting the service.
That structure matters commercially because medical-device startups need more than a smaller prototype. They must generate clinical evidence, build manufacturing plans and show that a new workflow can reduce pressure on care providers. A two-year customer-backed programme can finance those steps without adding shareholders, while giving a future equity investor clearer technical and procurement milestones to assess.
The contract funds evidence as well as engineering
Siloton expects the programme could shorten development by as much as two years and says its team should grow to 16 people by August 2028, with roles across photonics, electronics, software and manufacturing. Those are company projections, but they show how the award is intended to move GiraffeOCT from engineering into clinical and operational validation.
The execution challenge is whether portable scanning can preserve clinical quality while becoming simple enough for community or home use. Trial data will need to support both regulatory and health-economic cases, and manufacturing work must turn a specialised photonic system into a repeatable device. If Siloton can clear those gates, it could shift retinal monitoring closer to patients rather than requiring every scan to pass through scarce hospital equipment.
Sources checked:
Siloton announcement · Optometry Today reporting · The Cap Table reporting · Tech.eu Funding Explorer
