Leeds tech roundup, week of 10 Aug

Funding & deals

• Business visa platform (NPIF II) A business visa platform — not yet named in the coverage — secured funding from NPIF II, the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, and confirmed plans to establish a team in Leeds. Insider Media reports the deal as part of a broader NPIF II push into Yorkshire-based or Yorkshire-bound tech businesses. NPIF II has been one of the more active early-stage funders across the North this year, and a Leeds base suggests the founders see the city's international business community as a natural market. (Insider Media)

Product & launches

• Leeds Teaching Hospitals / Epredia Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust announced a partnership with Epredia to accelerate global adoption of its AI-enabled pathology platform for cancer diagnostics. The deal, reported by Business Wire and covered by National Health Executive, will see Epredia commercialise and distribute the technology internationally. The platform uses AI to assist pathologists in identifying cancerous tissue, and the Leeds team developed it through the Trust's innovation arm. It is one of the more concrete examples of NHS-developed AI reaching a commercial scale-up agreement rather than stalling at pilot stage. (Business Wire) (National Health Executive)

Hiring & teams

• Enablis Leeds AI consultancy Enablis opened a London office and appointed a chief AI officer, according to Prolific North and BusinessCloud. The expansion comes as the firm looks to grow its client base in the capital alongside its existing Leeds operation. BusinessCloud names the new chief AI officer appointment as a signal of where Enablis is placing its bets on service delivery. For Leeds, it is a familiar pattern — a tech firm that built its foundations here now splitting attention between two cities, though the Leeds HQ appears to remain in place. (Prolific North) (BusinessCloud)