XRlabs has raised $8.4 million in seed funding led by Playground Global, with participation from Eka Ventures, to accelerate development and clinical deployment of its device-agnostic Surgical Intelligence platform. The London-based company, which also has offices in Palo Alto, is building software that places a real-time artificial intelligence layer inside the operating room without requiring hospitals to replace the surgical systems they already use.
Founded by practicing neurosurgeon Dr. Ali Haddad, XRlabs uses computer vision and deep learning to convert live surgical video into real-time intelligence at the point of care. The company said its platform has already been used in more than 100 surgical cases across three continents. It can run on 4K 3D surgical scopes, interface with navigation systems, and combine live video, navigation telemetry, and pre-operative CT and MRI imaging into a single anatomy-aware view of an operation.
The new financing follows several clinical and technical milestones. XRlabs reported first-in-human use of physical AI in cranial neurosurgery under research conditions using the ORBEYE 4K 3D exoscope. The company also participated in what it described as a world first involving AI-designed patient-specific implants used in the separation of craniopagus twins with UK charity Gemini Untwined. XRlabs has also been named a global NVIDIA partner in robotics and is using NVIDIA Jetson Thor and Isaac for Healthcare to support low-latency perception, tool tracking, and intent-aware automation.
XRlabs plans to use the funding to expand its engineering and clinical teams, advance the platform through regulatory pathways in the UK, Europe, and the United States, and increase the clinical evidence generated with partner institutions. The company also received a compute allocation from the UK AI Research Resource, giving it access to national AI infrastructure for development and testing.
Alongside the financing, former Medtronic Chairman and CEO Omar Ishrak joined XRlabs as chair of the board. Ishrak, who also previously chaired Intel and currently serves on the boards of Amgen and Cleveland Clinic, will advise the company as it moves from early clinical deployments toward a broader operating-room platform.
KEY QUOTES:
“Our conviction is that the operating room is the next frontier for physical AI. Surgery generates extraordinary data, yet almost none of it becomes intelligence in the moments that matter most.”
Dr. Ali Haddad, Founder And CEO Of XRlabs
“The operating room is one of the richest, most underused sources of data in medicine, and the opportunity to turn that data into real-time surgical intelligence is enormous.”
Omar Ishrak, Chair Of The Board Of XRlabs
