Scalpel AI

Scalpel AI is a London-based medtech company building the intelligence infrastructure for the surgical supply chain. Founded in 2017 by Dr Yeshwanth Pulijala and Dr Shahnawaz Ahmed, the company emerged from Dr Pulijala's direct experience during his PhD in medical visualisation, where he witnessed how the mismanagement of surgical instruments could lead to near misses and critical errors in patient care.

The surgical supply chain is a largely manual, error-prone process. Surgical trays — which can contain dozens of precision instruments — are assembled, cleaned, transported, and verified by human technicians relying on barcodes, RFID tags, and manual checks. Errors in this process are costly: missing or incorrect instruments can delay or cancel procedures, harm patients, and expose healthcare organisations to significant financial and reputational risk.

Scalpel AI uses computer vision and machine learning to digitise and automate surgical instrument tracking across the entire supply chain. The platform generates a digital twin for each instrument, monitoring its journey from vendor warehouses through sterile processing to the operating room and back. The ScalpelGo mobile app extends AI validation into the field, enabling reps and logistics teams to verify tray contents at pickup and delivery in real time. The platform has demonstrated the ability to eliminate supply chain errors and reduce handling time by over 80%.

Scalpel AI works with major medical device companies, third-party logistics providers, and hospital sterile services departments. In a three-month pilot with GlobalMed Logistix, the platform processed over 10,000 joint reconstruction trays. In October 2024, the company closed a £3.8 million round led by Mercia Ventures, with participation from Tensor Ventures and private investors. The company's vision is to set a global standard for connected surgical intelligence.