This morning, Nanox, a startup working on a “digital X-ray system,” landed an additional $20 million in new funding, bringing the company’s total funding to $80 million. The new infusion of cash came from South Korean company SK Telcom. 

This comes just months after the Israeli company announced a $26 million raise led by Foxconn. 

This new investment also comes with a partnership agreement between Nanox and SK Telcom. The two companies are working together to deploy 2,500 Nanox Systems into South Korea and Vietnam. Nanox is also planning to launch a wholly-owned subsidiary in South Korea focused on producing the Nanox X-ray source semiconductor – with tech support from SK Telcom. 

WHAT THEY DO 

The company is currently working on a technology offering that combines an in-hospital scanning device with a companion cloud software tool. The X-ray device is called Nanox.ARC. It can transmit scans to the company’s in-development app dubbed the Nanox.Cloud. 

According to the startup, the X-Ray device is lighter than current CT scanners and can be produced for a much lower cost. The system is still under development, but it’s expected to be released sometime in 2021. 

WHAT IT’S FOR 

While the company didn’t spell out exactly where the new funds would be heading, it’s clear there is a connection between the new cash from SK Telcom and the efforts in South Korea and Vietnam. 

MARKET SNAPSHOT 

The radiology and imaging space are a major focus when it comes to new digital health and artificial intelligence efforts.  

Startups like Zebra Medical Vision and Aidoc have already scored a number of FDA clearances for imaging-focused platforms. 

NVIDIA is also making big bets on the imaging space. In 2018, the company revealed plans for a new AI platform called Clara, which will use AI to create a virtual medical imaging platform. Then last year it launched a toolkit for radiologists that includes 13 types of artificial intelligence for classification and segmentation, and also software tools.

ON THE RECORD 

“Nanox’s vision is nothing short of helping eradicate cancer and other conditions that plague us by increasing early detection of medical conditions that are discoverable by X-ray,” Ran Poliakine, CEO of Nanox, said in a statement. “We have been working for over eight years to bring a new breed of imaging to the world that can help us achieve this ambitious goal. Big visions require big partnerships to become real. SK is one of our greatest supporters and we go hand in hand for creating a world where no person has to wait weeks and months in line for radiology services and diagnostics.”