Quantib has raised $5.4 million to grow its business globally. The GE-partnered machine learning specialist will use the cash to move products related to stroke, lung disorders, oncology and bone structures toward commercialization while teaming up with hospitals around the world.
Holland Venture and InnovationQuarter led the round.
Quantib, a Dutch spinout of Erasmus MC, plans to use the cash to build on work it has done with other researchers in Rotterdam to create machine learning software capable of extracting biomarkers from medical images of the brain. That work led to the integration of Quantib software into GE devices and regulatory clearances in the U.S. and Europe. Now, it will provide a launchpad for the next phase of the company’s evolution.
Having focused on neurodegenerative and inflammatory diseases such as Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis for its first product, Quantib now plans to branch out into other indications. Products that deliver insights into the status of patients with stroke, lung disorders, cancer and bone problems are in the cards.
Quantib will expand into these areas while also extending its network of partnerships. Erasmus MC, the academic medical center Quantib spun out of, played a big role in the clinical validation of the startup’s early algorithms. Quantib now wants to partner with other academic medical centers.
The planned partnerships are part of a broadening of Quantib’s horizons.
“We see large international growth opportunities for the company,” Ewout Prins, managing partner at Holland Venture, said in a statement.
In expanding globally, Quantib will rely on the same strengths that captured the attention of investors and collaborators in its home country.
“Quantib’s applications help standardize and speed up image analysis and allows for the detection of subtle changes over time,” Prins said. “It increases the objectivity of the diagnostic process and therefore delivers an improved diagnosis combined with more efficient processes, positively impacting a large group of patients.”
Multiple other organizations are working toward similar goals. Arterys, DiA Imaging and Zebra Medical Vision already have regulatory clearances to apply algorithms to certain types of medical images. Other startups including MedyMatch Technology are giving chase. And big players such as IBM, GE, Philips and Samsung are working in the field, too, both through in-house initiatives and in collaboration with smaller partners.