Mumbai-based healthcare AI startup Qure.ai announced that has raised $16 million in funding led by Sequoia India and was supported by MassMutual Ventures Southeast Asia. The fresh funds will be used for geographical expansion, product portfolio expansion and to support regulatory clearances.

Qure.ai was founded in 2016 by co-founders Prashant Warier (who is also CEO) and Pooja Rao (who is also R & D head). The startup builds AI systems to assist doctors in reading X-rays and CT scans. The startup’s head CT product (qER), is a triage aid designed to prioritize and notify critical head CT scans. Its chest X-ray automation and interpretation solution (qXR), is a CE-certified automated chest X-ray interpretation tool that screens for tuberculosis and other abnormalities.

THE LARGER TREND

Last March, Chiranjiv Singh, a 13-year veteran of GE Healthcare’s sales and marketing operations, joined Qure.ai as chief commercial officer. In March 2018, the startup launched its AI tech which can identify bleeds, fractures, and other critical abnormalities in the head CT scans, MobiHealthNews reported. The technology can generate an automated report that pinpoints the anatomical locations of lesions. The reports are aimed to help providers prioritize care, make better and faster decisions, and reduce costs.

ON THE RECORD

“We are proud to have taken our solutions beyond the research stage to actually impacting patient lives across more than 200 locations in 20 countries. Our products ensure that life-saving treatments can be delivered to patients, even in remote locations, in a fraction of the time required for traditional scan interpretation. This funding round will allow us to further invest in R&D and to expand the reach of our solutions, accelerating our mission of delivering accessible and affordable healthcare to every human being,” said Prashant Warier, co-founder and CEO, Qure.ai in a statement.

Anjana Sasidharan, Principal at Sequoia Capital India LLP, said, “Medical imaging is one of the fields in healthcare where there is enough digitized data to turn the promise of AI into a reality. The sophistication of Qure.ai’s algorithms and predictive analytics tools, coupled with their expert team of data scientists and physicians positions them very well versus their global competitors.”

“What sets them apart is their ability to deploy commercially at scale across multiple countries; something many others have failed to do as strong algorithms don’t always translate to robust commercial products.”