At more than $48.2 billion raised through mid-December, the med-tech industry has recorded another stellar financing year – one that is 19% below 2020, but above every other year to date.
Xandar Kardian Inc. closed a $10 million series A funding round to support the rollout of the company’s contactless health monitoring solution. Phoenix Venture Partners led the round with participation from Portfolia Active Aging & Longevity Fund, Taronga Ventures and others. “With the new financing round, Xandar Kardian looks forward to expanding its core team in Toronto and in the United States, in addition to placing increased emphasis on R&D and mass production for its technologies,” Xandar Kardian co-founder and CEO Sam Yang told BioWorld.
PERTH, Australia – Australia attracted international attention in July when a Federal Court ruled that artificial intelligence can be named as the inventor of a patent. In Thaler v. Commissioner of Patents, Federal Court Justice Jonathan Beach ruled that under Australian patent law, inventors don’t necessarily have to be human. The decision challenges the assumption that only human beings can be inventors. Beach did rule, however, that an AI system cannot apply for a patent or receive a patent.
TORONTO – Cloud Dx Inc. has entered into an exclusive corporate agreement with Medtronic Canada ULC to provide the subsidiary of Medtronic plc virtual and remote patient monitoring (RPM) technology and services across Canada. Medtronic Canada will begin by integrating Cloud Dx’s Connected Health platform along the perioperative and complex chronic disease pathways that make up the country’s health care network.
With aging populations and more sophisticated markets growing in the Asia Pacific region, multinational corporations including Medtronic plc and Olympus Corp. are tapping digitalization, robotics and innovation platforms to seek med-tech solutions.
LONDON – Lifelight Ltd. is preparing for a new funding round in the first quarter of 2022 after making significant headway with its contactless technology for monitoring vital signs, as push came to shove during the pandemic and remote patient monitoring became a necessity.
Suki AI Inc. recorded $55 million in a series C fundraising round to support further development of its artificial intelligence (AI)-driven voice technology and digital clinical assistant for health care providers. The round was led by March Capital with participation by Philips Ventures. All previous investors in the company also returned, including Gaingels Group, Pankaj Patel (former chief development officer of Cisco), Andrew Deutsch (CEO of RIMA Radiology), and Russell Farscht (former managing director of The Carlyle Group).
Prelude Corp. (dba Preludedx) reported positive results from the SweDCIS randomized trial showing its DCISionrt test predicts radiation benefit for lowering 10-year local invasive breast cancer risk. The prognostic, artificial intelligence (AI)-based tool assesses and predicts the benefit of radiotherapy for women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) following breast-conserving surgery (BCS).
Israeli startup Ophthalmic Sciences Ltd. is targeting 2023 for regulatory clearance of its artificial intelligence (AI)-based contactless intraocular pressure (IOP) measuring device, IO Perfect. The technology, which combines AI visual analysis in a virtual reality headset, enables remote monitoring of glaucoma. The device is designed to be used at home, in eye clinics, emergency room departments, pharmacies and primary physician settings.
PERTH, Australia – Health care artificial intelligence (AI) company Harrison.ai has raised AU$129 million (US$97 million) in a series B round that will expand the company’s global footprint by commercializing its comprehensive clinical AI applications.