University Spin-Out BeCertain Raises £1.7m to Bring Clinical-Grade AI to Dental Diagnostics
University Spin-Out BeCertain Raises £1.7 million to Bring Clinical-Grade AI to Dental Diagnostics
BeCertain, a spinout from King’s College London and the University of Surrey, has secured £1.7 million in a pre-seed investment round led by specialist AI VC SVV (Sure Valley Ventures) and supported by Innovate UK’s Investor Partnership Growth Catalyst programme.
Founded by experts in machine learning and dentistry, BeCertain has developed an AI software assistant designed to support clinicians in their workflow, with the first use case in assisting the interpretation of 2D intraoral X-rays.
The Company addresses clear needs in dental practice by improving diagnostic reliability, protecting patient data, and increasing operational efficiency. The initial project was funded by a £1.75 million National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) i4i Product Development Award.
With around 20 million X-rays taken annually in the UK, clinicians face intense pressure to make fast, accurate decisions. But dental diagnosis is highly inconsistent. The same X-ray can yield different interpretations from different clinicians, and with diagnostic error rates exceeding 50%, over half of diseases can go undetected. This can harm patients, erode trust, delay early treatment, and increase litigation risk and revenue loss for practices.
BeCertain is creating a trustworthy AI-assisted diagnosis system that detects a broad range of dental conditions from X-rays using its proprietary uncertainty-aware AI to spot subtle pathologies before they evolve into major concerns. Importantly, it provides calibrated confidence levels, helping dentists understand how certain the system is in each assessment, particularly important in complex or unclear cases. Data privacy is also central to its design.
The technology behind BeCertain was developed from research led by Dr Yunpeng Li and Professor Owen Addison.
Dr Li is a Reader in AI & Digital Oral Health at the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences at King’s College London and CEO & Co-founder of BeCertain. Before King’s, Dr Li was a faculty member at the University of Surrey. Professor Owen Addison is a Professor of Oral Rehabilitation and Head of Centre for Oral, Clinical & Translational Sciences at King’s College London, as well as an Honorary NHS Consultant in Restorative Dentistry and BeCertain’s Chief Medical Officer & Co-founder.
Dr Li, BeCertain CEO and Co-founder, said:
“Every missed diagnosis represents a missed opportunity for patients. The hard part in clinical AI isn’t detection, it’s trust. That’s what we’ve built: a system that tells clinicians how confident it is rather than issuing a black-box verdict, that keeps patient data protected, and that we evaluate at scale.
“Our system helps identify a broad range of common conditions, including tooth decay, bone loss, infections, and restoration defects. It integrates easily with dental imaging systems that dentists already use.”
Professor Addison, BeCertain Chief Medical Officer & Co-founder, added:
“BeCertain is about making dentistry work better for both clinicians and patients by using regulated, trustworthy AI to give clinicians confidence, consistency, and more time for patient care.”
Barry Downes, SVV Managing Partner, commented:
“BeCertain is building the trust layer for dental AI, with technology trained on NHS-grade data that brings accuracy and consistency to every diagnosis. What stood out was the founders' rare combination of world-class research and frontline clinical expertise, and their drive to commercialise this technology to transform everyday dental practice."
Professor Sebastien Ourselin FREng FMedSci, Assistant Principal (Innovation), King’s College London said:
"BeCertain's journey from King's Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences to a fully incorporated spinout is a testament to what becomes possible when researchers are given the necessary support to realise their ideas to the benefit of patients.
“Their AI platform for dental X-ray diagnostics is a compelling example of how deep academic expertise, combined with the resources of King’s innovation ecosystem and the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering's MedTech Venture Builder programme, can become a technology that changes dental practice.”
Professor Lisa Collins, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) at the University of Surrey, said:
"The greatest impact of AI in healthcare will come not from systems that operate with the highest degree of autonomy, but from those that clinicians can trust with confidence. BeCertain was designed with that principle at its core.
“Its journey from research at the University of Surrey to commercial development at King's College London demonstrates the value of collaboration across institutions, with complementary innovation ecosystems helping promising research progress towards clinical and commercial impact. We are proud that Innovate Surrey Ltd has played a role in supporting that journey, from protecting intellectual property to enabling the creation of a spin-out with the potential to improve patient care.”
In 2025, BeCertain joined King’s MedTech Venture Builder programme hosted by the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering (LIHE). The 12-month, structured programme aims to accelerate the commercial and clinical translation of technologies into investment-ready ventures.
Alongside the Venture Builder programme, BeCertain has also been supported from early idea to spinout formation with expert advice from the Intellectual Property & Licensing team in King’s Innovation Catalyst, Innovate UK ICURe programme, Pioneer Group’s Launch Programme, and the Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellowship.
