London AI startup Lupa raises $20m to modernise vet clinics
Lupa, a London-based startup building modern software for veterinary clinics, has raised $20m (£16.5m) in a Series A round led by European VC Singular, just five months after securing $4m in seed funding.
The software firm, founded in 2023, says it is tackling one of the most overlooked corners of healthcare: the $350bn global veterinary industry, which still runs on outdated software designed in the 1990s.
Its AI-powered ‘operating system’ promises to streamline clinic operations, improve care, and cut down on administrative work for vets.
A growing need for digital tools
The investment comes at a time when pet ownership has surged, up 36 per cent during the pandemic, while the UK and Europe are facing shortages of qualified vets.
This has created mounting pressure on clinics already struggling with high workloads.
“Legacy systems have acted like a leash on veterinary productivity”,said Nicolò Frisiani, Lupa’s co-founder and chief executive.
“We saw brilliant vets spending hours battling with software instead of treating animals. Lupa is designed to give them that time back”.
According to the firm, clinics using its system save an average of 45 minutes per vet per day and see a return on investment within the first week of use.
A London-based vet, Dr Rebecca Castle, claimed: “Lupa saves me at least an hour daily. It’s completely changed my working day, allowing me to spend more time with patients rather than paperwork”.
Investor confidence
The $20m round, which also included Firstminute Capital and angel investors, brings Lupa’s total funding to $25m.
The company has already signed multi-year enterprise contracts across the UK and Europe and claims to have grown revenues 50-fold since its seed raise earlier this year.
Backing the round, Raffi Kamber, co-founder of Singular, said: “Veterinary care is a massive, under-digitised sector. Lupa combines world-class engineers from DeepMind, Meta and Palantir with veterinary expertise to reimagine the experience for both vets and pet owners”.
While digitalisation in healthcare has accelerated in human medicine, veterinary practices have lagged behind.
The move towards integrated, AI-powered platforms is seen as a step toward catching up.
A dedicated AI lab
As part of its expansion, Lupa is also establishing what it calls the world’s inaugural ‘veterinary AI lab’, led by alumni by Meta AI, DeepMind, and C3.ai.
The lab will focus on developing safe, tested tools for animal healthcare, with plans to publish research and work with universities, as well as regulators.
“This isn’t about efficiency, it’s about setting global standards for how AI is used responsibly in veterinary medicine”, said co-founder Raul Lozano Martin, formerly an engineer at Meta.
Lupa’s software also reaches pet owners, with their mobile app allowing users to book appointments, pay bills, and access medical records and vaccination reminders.
With the latest funding, the firm plans to scale across Europe and expand its suite of AI tools, as well as to accelerate hiring.