AI startup Lunit has raised $61 million in a fundraiser ahead of its initial public offering at the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations early next year. 

The round was participated by US investors HealthQuest Capital, Casdin Capital, and American Cancer Society BrightEdge, as well as Asian investors Tybourne Capital Management and NSG Ventures.

The investing event followed its Series C Tranche B funding round in July where it raised $26 million from American precision oncology firm Guardant Health. Together with the latest funding bout, Lunit has collected over $135 million in capital. 

"Our purpose [for] the last few investment rounds has been to find partners who would bring strategic value for our future endeavours. Through these partnerships, we look forward to reinforcing our journey to conquer cancer through AI," said Lunit CEO Brandon Suh.

THE LARGER TREND

Among Lunit's recent partnerships is with RadLink, a private diagnostic and molecular imaging service provider in Singapore. The deal saw the rollout of chest x-ray software INSIGHT CXR and mammography product Lunit INSIGHT MMG at RadLink's facilities. The companies are also collaborating to investigate the value of AI in reading mammography using the INSIGHT MMG. 

Fujifilm Corporation has also adopted Lunit's INSIGHT CXR for its AI-powered chest x-ray product called CXR-AID, which detects major abnormal chest findings, such as chest nodule, consolidation and pneumothorax. The device has been recently approved for commercialisation by the Japanese government.

Meanwhile, Lunit announced last week that it obtained the US Food and Drugs Administration's 510(k) clearances for both its INSIGHT MMG and INSIGHT CXR Triage, a triage and notification software that analyses chest x-ray images.