HONG KONG – South Korean med tech Olive Healthcare Inc. has attracted ₩8 billion (US$6.91 million) in series B funding. The Seoul-based company is focused on abdominal fat scanning and breast cancer diagnosis, using nonradiative and noninvasive near infrared (NIR) technology, artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, and big data processing for a customized medical service.
Med-tech companies brought in more money than each of the last two years in every type of financing, aside from private placements, with about 11% of the funds flowing into digital health companies. In total, the industry raised $40.67 billion, an increase of 98% over 2018, which logged $20.6 billion and was more in line with the $19.4 billion raised in 2017.
BEIJING – CF Pharmtech Inc., of Suzhou, China, closed a ¥630 million (US$90 million) series E financing round to bring its inhaled respiratory drugs to global markets and replace imports with homegrown products faster.
Artificial intelligence (AI) health care startup Cardiologs Technologies SAS scooped up $15 million in a series A funding round led by Alven Capital Partners. The Paris-based company, which has an artificial intelligence-based platform to quickly diagnose cardiac arrhythmias, plans to use the money to grow its sales and marketing efforts across North America and Europe. The funds will also be used to advance the platform’s capabilities. Also participating in the financing were previous investors Bpifrance, Isai, Kurma Diagnostics, Idinvest Partners and Paris Saclay Seed Fund.
What does the landscape look like in terms of funding for digital health? Geoffrey Starr, a partner at Cooley LLP, dove into this question during the Digital Health Summit, part of CES 2020. He acknowledged that 2019 saw a slight dip in funding compared with the record-breaking previous year. With that said, it was the second largest year ever for digital health care financings, with more than one-third of all health care venture financings involving digital health technologies.
HONG KONG – South Korean-based med-tech Lunit Inc., of Seoul, has secured ₩30 billion (US$25.6 million) in series C funding. Founded in 2013, the Korean company has raised $50 million so far. Lunit’s corporate value was evaluated at as much as ₩200 billion as of the fundraising.
Surgical robotics company Virtual Incision Corp., of Lincoln, Neb., has raised $20 million in a series B+ financing led by returning investor Bluestem Capital. The funds are earmarked for clinical and regulatory programs aimed at commercializing the company’s MIRA (miniaturized in vivo robotic assistant) surgical robotic platform.
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