German startup targets low-cost, portable MRI

AuntMinnieEurope.com staff writers
Jun 29, 2020
2019 07 04 00 21 3668 Euros Bills 400

German imaging technology startup DeepSpin said it has raised a seed financing round to support development of a low-cost, portable MRI system powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

The funding round was led by Apex Digital Health and included participation from existing investors Entrepreneur First and SOSV. DeepSpin said it would use the funds to expand its team and build the next iteration of its MRI AI imaging algorithm and respective hardware. The company did not disclose the amount of the investment.

DeepSpin said that its proprietary technology will apply algorithms on simplified hardware, enabling its MRI system to be orders of magnitude cheaper than current scanners and to be accessible in new medical domains and geographies that can't currently afford MRI equipment.

The company was founded in September 2019 by Clemens Tepel, a former McKinsey consultant, and Pedro Freire Silva, a PhD researcher from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Freire Silva has conducted research into small-scale, mass-manufacturable MRI systems and pitched the idea to his future co-founder.

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