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Home » Grow » Sector Growth » Ambitious Essex Tech 50 » Ambitious Essex Tech 50 – 2026 » Aerial Icon
Aerial Icon is an Essex-based deep-tech company building AI-powered immersive technology for mental health and digital therapeutics. We combine artificial intelligence, extended reality, and high-fidelity 360° environments to deliver clinically effective immersive therapy at scale. Our flagship product, UbiFloat, provides evidence-based immersive interventions for conditions such as Seasonal Affective Disorder, anxiety, and low mood without the cost, complexity, or access barriers of traditional therapy or light-based treatments.
2025 has been a huge year for us. We secured multiple Innovate UK grants and delivered funded R&D projects with Anglia Ruskin University, NHS Cambridge & Peterborough, and Reneural. We launched early versions of UbiFloat, ran real-world trials, and saw measurable improvements in mood after just a single session. We also built our AI-driven 360° content pipeline, which lets us create therapeutic immersive environments far faster and cheaper than traditional filming. On top of that, we were selected for both the Future 100 Growth Fund accelerator and Barclays Eagle Labs, which really helped sharpen our commercial and investment readiness.
In 2026 we move from R&D into scaled deployment. Our focus is on rolling out UbiFloat, our AI-powered immersive digital therapeutic for mood and Seasonal Affective Disorder, with healthcare, education, and wellbeing partners, alongside expanding our clinical studies and real-world usage. In parallel, we’ll commercialise the underlying AI platform that generates these immersive therapeutic environments on demand, and we’re preparing for a significant investment round to support growth, regulatory pathways, and international expansion.
Arise has been genuinely valuable, both as a base and as part of the Essex innovation ecosystem. The network, support, and visibility have played a real role in helping us secure funding, partnerships, and momentum.
It was a great experience. It helped us tighten our strategy, improve our investor story, and pressure-test our model with experienced founders and funders.
We are most interested in working with healthcare providers, universities, and technology companies who are serious about mental health, applied AI, and immersive digital therapeutics, whether in Essex or beyond.
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