$8.4m · Seed · Healthtech · London, United Kingdom
London-based XRlabs, which develops software that brings live surgical video, navigation data and patient imaging into one operating-room view, has raised $8.4m in seed funding. Playground Global led the round, with Eka Ventures participating. The capital will support engineering and clinical hiring, regulatory work in the UK, Europe and the US, and a broader clinical evidence programme.
The company was founded by practising neurosurgeon Ali Haddad. Its planning product, XRlabs SIM, reconstructs CT and MRI scans as interactive 3D digital twins, while SurgicalOS is designed to fuse those models with live scope video and navigation data during an operation. XRlabs says the wider platform has been used in more than 100 surgical cases across three continents, but its own product material states that SurgicalOS remains in development and under clinical evaluation.
The installed base is part of the product strategy
XRlabs is trying to sell an intelligence layer around equipment hospitals and device makers already use, rather than another large machine for the theatre. Its software reads existing outputs from scopes, navigation systems and imaging equipment, then returns an anatomy-aware view on the existing display. That architecture could narrow the replacement burden for a hospital and give device manufacturers a route to add software capabilities to installed hardware.
The commercial dependency sits in the word “compatible”. Each integration still has to work reliably with a partner device, fit an established clinical workflow and pass the relevant medical-device pathway. XRlabs says it develops integrations as software as a medical device and can lead or support the regulatory submission depending on the partnership. The funding therefore backs not only model development but also the clinical evidence, validation and manufacturer relationships needed to turn a promising software layer into a deployable product.
Clinical firsts now have to become repeatable evidence
XRlabs points to a first-in-human research use of physical AI in cranial neurosurgery and to its role in designing patient-specific implants for the separation of craniopagus twins. These cases show what the platform can support, but they do not establish broad commercial adoption or clinical effectiveness. The company’s next milestone is to expand evidence across partner institutions while moving through regulatory pathways in three markets.
The round also adds former Medtronic chairman and CEO Omar Ishrak as board chair. His appointment brings operating experience from a large medical-device company at a stage when procurement, regulatory strategy and integration partnerships may matter as much as the underlying computer vision. The financing follows a $2.3m seed announced in February 2025, when Eka Ventures also participated.
