Artificial intelligence (AI) based healthtech startup NIRAMAI Health Analytix, has announced that it has closed $6 mn in a Series A round of funding led by Dream Incubator, a Japanese VC firm, with participation from BEENEXT and other investors.
Earlier investors pi Ventures, Ankur Capital, Axilor Ventures, and Binny Bansal also participated in the round. The funds will be used for scaling in India, hiring top talent and getting additional regulatory approvals for international expansion.
The fresh funding comes within three months after NIRAMAI had raised about US$6-7 million from its existing investors Pi Ventures, Axilor, Ankur Capital and Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, in November last year.
NIRAMAI is creating a revolution in breast
health screening with its patented technology called Thermalytix™ which is a
non-contact, non-invasive and radiation-free solution for early stage breast
cancer detection. The solution is clinically proven to be accurate for women of
all age groups. This affordable and portable solution is completely privacy
conscious. Thermalytix can be applied to other areas of diagnostics as well.
This innovation has led to NIRAMAI being selected as the only Indian company
listed on 2019 cohort of AI 100 startups in the world by global business data
intelligence platform CB Insights.
Dr. Geetha Manjunath, CEO & CTO of NIRAMAI, says, “NIRAMAI helps to bridge the gap in
our healthcare delivery systems by providing an AI tool that is
accurate, affordable and accessible to all. If institutionalised as regular
screening method, NIRAMAI Thermalytix has the potential to save many lives not
just from breast cancer deaths but eventually other diseases as well. We are
thankful to the continued support and mentorship provided by our seed investors
and are excited to join hands with our new investors to propel us to next level
of growth.”
Eto Munehiko, Managing
Director, Dream Incubator Advisory and Investment India, who will join
Niramai board, says,
“We are excited about partnering with Niramai that is building a truly deep-tech
solution out of India. We also believe in the potential of their technology to
solve global health problems at scale. The disruptive AI based technology is
key to early detection of disease and saving lives especially where there is a
shortage of skilled medical professionals and dense breast ratio is high. Dream Incubator would support Niramai’s
international expansion including Japan.” Dream Incubator has invested
in more than 160 companies across 8 countries and supported 28 IPOs.
Manish Singhal, Founding Partner, pi
Ventures added, “We believe that Niramai’s team and technology will create
a significant difference in early detection of breast cancer and are happy to
continue backing them in their journey. AI diagnostic tools are helping doctors
scour through data to better diagnose a variety of abnormal conditions and is
the only way to bridge the huge demand and supply gap when it comes to quality
healthcare.”
NIRAMAI
has made excellent progress in 2018 showing clinical validation with multiple
trials published in international forums, market validation with 20+
installations in hospitals and diagnostic centres across 9 cities in India and
receiving excellent user feedback from women.
NIRAMAI was founded in July 2016 by serial
intrapreneur Dr. Geetha Manjunath who comes with 25 years of expertise in research
and innovation leadership, and Nidhi Mathur with rich experience in business
planning, strategy and product management. Both women co-founders have
previously worked with companies like Xerox Research and Hewlett Packard Labs. Niramai has previously raised a seed round of $1mn in April
2017.