Spotlight on Pontiro: Automating a Hidden Bottleneck in NHS Data Sharing

A Challenge Hidden in Plain Sight

When people think about digital transformation in healthcare, data anonymisation isn’t usually the first thing that comes to mind. Yet this overlooked step, stripping sensitive patient information from medical images before they can be shared, has long been one of the biggest barriers to AI-driven diagnostics and research.

In the NHS, anonymising clinical images can take around six minutes per study. Multiply that across millions of scans, and the scale of the problem becomes clear. Clinicians are forced to divert time away from patient care, researchers face lengthy delays, and valuable data remains locked away, unable to fuel innovation.

That was the starting point for Pontiro, a Welsh healthtech venture born out of the Cyber Innovation Hub Venture Building Programme, delivered in partnership with Cardiff University and the Alacrity Foundation. Pontiro was built around a real-world challenge identified during a CIH-hosted roundtable with NHS Wales leaders, digital health experts and academics. The result is a startup designed from day one to solve one of healthcare’s most persistent bottlenecks.

The Solution: Automating Trust and Speed

Pontiro’s platform automates the anonymisation of medical images, transforming a manual, time-intensive task into a seamless background process. Crucially, the system slots directly into existing NHS workflows and meets stringent security and privacy requirements enabling sensitive data to flow without disruption.

Developed in collaboration with frontline professionals at the National Imaging Academy Wales, the solution has already achieved remarkable results in real-world trials:

• 99.9% PII removal accuracy
• 98% reduction in processing time
• Over 1.8 million records processed
• 100% GDPR compliance

By making data anonymisation virtually invisible, Pontiro frees up clinicians to focus on patient care, accelerates research collaboration, and ensures patients can trust how their data is used.

“One of our NHS partners showed us it could take six minutes to anonymise a single study. Multiply that across thousands, and it’s time clinicians simply don’t have. Our platform gives that time back to the patients, instead of paperwork.”

Lewis Bowen, Co-Founder, Pontiro

Built for Impact from the Ground Up

Pontiro is a textbook example of the Venture Building Programme’s model in action: start with a real problem, build a team around it, and support them to prove and scale a solution.

From the outset, the team stress-tested their idea with clinicians to ensure it addressed a genuine need. The founders brought together complementary skills in business, computer science and digital health, supported by mentors and domain experts from CIH and Alacrity. This challenge-led approach ensured that every decision, from product design to market strategy, was grounded in clinical reality.

“We stress-tested the idea before writing a single line of code. That grounding means what we’ve built is solving a real NHS bottleneck today.”

Lewis Bowen, Co-Founder, Pontiro

Momentum That Matters

Thanks to the programme’s stipend support, Pontiro’s founders could focus fully on building their venture without the distraction of side jobs. That focus has paid off: the team has presented at major industry events like UKIO (UK Imaging & Oncology Congress) and pitched at the ECSO Investor Showcase at The Shard, where they won Best Pitch, a clear signal of their potential to scale.

Pontiro has also been awarded an Innovate UK Growth Catalyst Grant under the Artificial Intelligence category. This highly competitive programme backs early-stage ventures developing foundational technologies in high-impact areas like AI, with a strong emphasis on trusted and responsible innovation, values that sit at the heart of Pontiro’s mission.

Build What the World Needs Next

Pontiro’s journey illustrates the power of the Cyber Innovation Hub Venture Building Programme: a unique model that pairs real-world challenges with world-class support to turn bold ideas into impactful businesses.

If you have a cyber-focused idea, or want to be part of a founding team tackling some of society’s most urgent problems, we want to hear from you.

 Learn more about the Venture Building Programme and register your interest.