Asterix Health raises £2.1M to bring remote GPs to the NHS
What's the deal? Asterix Health, a London-based startup, has raised £2.1M in pre-seed funding to scale its remote GP workforce model across NHS primary care. The round was led by Triple Point, with participation from D2, Entrepreneurs First, Basis Capital, DLB Ventures, and a group of angel investors.
The company is the first and only one approved under new NHS regulation to hire GMC-registered GPs based abroad. Its doctors already support practices serving 250,000 patients, freeing up more than one GP session per day per practice.
Why now? NHS primary care is under severe strain. Since 2015, the number of patients per fully qualified GP has risen by 15%, and two in three doctors say they have considered working abroad. Co-founders Julian Titz and Max Thilo launched Asterix in 2024 after both faced serious health conditions and experienced firsthand the impact of chronic workforce shortages.
The pair met on the Entrepreneurs First programme in London. Their model has already been referenced in the NHS 10 Year Plan, lending it institutional credibility at a moment when the health service is actively seeking new solutions.
The funding will accelerate onboarding of new NHS practices and expand Asterix's network of remote GPs — including NHS-trained doctors eager to return to frontline care from abroad. The company's proprietary DoctorOS platform integrates with major electronic patient record systems, giving remote GPs the patient context they need to deliver safe care.
Asterix has also appointed Dr Mike Bewick, a former deputy medical director of NHS England responsible for primary care, as strategic medical lead.
What could go wrong? Remote consultations and clinical admin depend on reliable tech infrastructure and seamless integration with existing NHS systems — neither a given. Scaling a model that relies on overseas-based doctors also means navigating regulatory complexity and potential political sensitivity around offshoring healthcare roles.
Maintaining clinical quality and governance at scale will be critical. The company claims more than 3,000 hours of care delivered so far, but it remains early days.
The signal: Asterix reflects a broader trend of startups tackling public-sector workforce crises with tech-enabled, globally distributed talent models. Rather than shuffling existing GPs around the country, the company aims to grow the total pool of available doctors — a fundamentally different approach.
"For the first time in decades we are actually growing the pie — increasing the number of highly qualified GPs available to deliver primary care," Titz said. If adopted at scale, Asterix estimates the model could save the NHS over £250M annually.
Read more: asterix.health
