Tachmed proves why Scotland is the place to invest in medtech
Last updated: March 2025
Medtech innovator, Tachmed, intends to disrupt healthcare sectors by capitalising on Scotland’s world-class technology, life sciences, and engineering pedigree.
Scottish design innovation for global impact
During Covid, the “Stay at home. Save lives” slogan influenced a brave new world in using self-test kits. In fact, over 500 million tests were conducted during a 9-month period in 2020 alone, reveals statistic.com.
Today, scale up company, Tachmed, is blending technology with Scottish design innovation to enable people to diagnose a multitude of medical conditions at home using just one digital device. The business believes its smart health meter could eliminate healthcare waiting lists almost entirely, saving millions in costs and, in some cases, lives. And this is achievable through accurately identifying these conditions earlier and more efficiently, reducing the chances of misdiagnosis.
Headquartered in London, England, the life sciences and medtech company was co-founded by Paul Christie, CEO, and Lord Maxwell Beaverbrook in 2018.
Paul Christie, CEO of Tachmed
Advanced healthcare through data and biomedical excellence
Tachmed is now tapping into Scotland’s rich seam of data, biomedical and life sciences experience by working with universities and tech companies to develop its home healthcare system. With around 770 organisations employing over 42,500 people, Scotland has one of Europe's largest life sciences sectors. It includes global pharma services companies and medical technology startups.
Rather than expand into a country to capture market territory, Tachmed’s journey into Glasgow from England started when it commissioned a company called Filament to design its digital device.
Its digital health toolbox uses graphene technology comprised of the smart health meter to capture biomarkers of diseases. The data is then reported electronically through the digital system to the clinician.
Expert Scottish university support
Tachmed was also attracted to Scotland on the strength of its “huge pool” of life and data science talent, together with invaluable engineering experience. The company’s scientific advisor professor, Paul Townsend, now Vice Dean at the University of Stirling’s Medical School, helped facilitate several conversations with other universities, including Glasgow, Strathclyde and Dundee.
Further collaborations in Scotland have involved work with FlexMedical Solutions, a life sciences business based in Livingston.
Paul explains: “When we looked at tech companies and engineers who’ve developed businesses in our field in Scotland, we soon discovered the country is full of innovation. I view Scotland as a Silicon Valley of the North, hosting a UK-renowned technology centre.”
A key factor pointing the compass north has been Scotland’s software development and hardware engineering sectors that provide access to terrific talent, according to Tachmed. These specialisms will help the life sciences company scale into its primary US market. Paul says Filament's design team based in Scotland was able to synthesise complex engineering at a low enough cost for the process to be viable.
He adds: “We've also entered a strategic partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), which is helping us to build a scalable solution architecture in the cloud. This works with ground-breaking and proprietary generative AI-based tools based on Anthropic’s Claude Models. Through the partnership we have accelerated our Research and Development (R&D) software and test functions.”
Tachmed believes its smart health meter could eliminate healthcare waiting lists almost entirely
Market appeal to Asia and South America
As the international arm of Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Development International (SDI) has helped Tachmed to get boots on the ground in Scotland. Scottish Enterprise provided a £900,000 Grant Award to implement a project to establish a facility in the Glasgow area, and to fund up to 40 permanent full-time jobs.
Finding organisations like SDI and Scottish Enterprise that open doors, make connections and provide specialist support is an art, not a science, believes Paul Christie.
Michael Benson, an SDI Inward Investment Specialist for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), says: “The grant and Team Scotland support will play a vital role in the company’s growth strategy. The considered approach to applying for the grant is emblematic of Tachmed approach to business: demonstrating sound principles in R&D.”
So what are Tachmed’s future plans?
Looking ahead, the company aims to go to market in the second half of 2025, primarily in the US before exploring the UK and Asian territories. It will secure supply chains and evaluate locations for a factory premises to produce the device which it believes will be in the millions for the primary US market.
But the exciting chapter in the unwritten story is not just enabling people to diagnose at home – but the rich data that could identify future trends and patterns for healthcare services and patient outcomes. In years to come, this resulting data may have the potential to remodel and economise patient care services.
On the strength of accrued data, Tachmed believes that a comprehensive test library could be available within five years. And this could eliminate a significant number of GP appointments and A&E visits, preventing medical conditions from becoming worse or turning into life-threating illnesses.
Paul sums up: “Scotland has given us a fresh and futuristic approach to how we can design and develop our products. Our business is benefiting from the nation’s strong life sciences and scientific capability. The transition of data science into iterative AI applications will form the next generation of primary health services. And this is the vision we’re so excited about.”
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