Case study – Spotlight Pathology

  • Friday, October 10, 2025
  • Posted By The Growth Company

Spotlight Pathology was set up by co-founders Dr Martin Fergie and Professor Richard Byers in 2020 to develop AI-powered tools that improve the accuracy and speed of blood cancer diagnoses.

Currently, there is a world-wide shortage of highly qualified pathologists, leading to delays in diagnosis which can have an adverse effect on patients and treatment. In 2021, Spotlight Pathology secured funding through Innovate UK’s ICURe Programme.

In October of that year, Spotlight began working with Senior Innovation and Growth Specialist Gillian Kavanagh for support with proof of concept to commercialising the idea, raising investment, and routes to market.

Gillian supported them by:

  • Identifying a pathway for proof of concept with RTO Catapult- Medicine Discovery to assist development of a novel AI tool to quantify cellular uptake of complex medicines in pre-clinical drug development, which allowed them to capture pilot data of liver biopsies with immunofluorescence stains to identify cell subtypes.
  • Recommending further funding opportunities, MedTech Accelerator funding worth £30K,  Innovate UK Advancing Precision Medicine worth £900K (£400k to Spotlight and £500k to Leeds Hospital)
  • Identifying the need for an intellectual property audit to protect technology and data sets and developing an IP strategy and investment strategy.
  • Working on application for the Invest-Ability Pathway Programme, including support with value proposition, business model canvas and pitch deck, which was successful.
  • Facilitating introductions to Innovate UK Investor Partnerships.

With the proof of concept and prototype phase now complete, the software is now undergoing trials at Leeds Hospital.

Spotlight Pathology is now collaborating with the Northern England Haemato-Oncology Diagnostic Service and their Novopath laboratory along with the National Pathology Imaging Co-operative (NPIC) (project supported by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR i4i)) to develop a novel AI lymphoma diagnostic triage tool and working with the Haematology Oncology Diagnostics Service at the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust to digitise lymph node and trephine biopsies.

To date, Spotlight Pathology Ltd has secured investment worth over £1.54 million and increased its number of employees from two to four after welcoming a new CEO and a Marketing Manager in 2024 and this has allowed them to move into the Innovation Centre at Sci-Tech Daresbury.

Dr Martin Fergie, Spotlight’s Chief Technical Officer, said: "Gillian has helped us secure access to valuable training and funding opportunities to help our business progress our products towards market adoption. In particular, we've benefited from training in investment readiness and access to funding to undertake an intellectual property audit."

The Spotlight Pathology team has now developed extensive expertise and in-depth understanding of how to apply state-of-the-art AI to pathology and has a proven track record of developing software that integrates with existing digital pathology infrastructures to maximise the impact of medical images.