February 4, 2019 — In 2018, capital investment in companies developing artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled medical image analysis solutions was almost $580 million. This was more than double the investment into such companies in 2017, according to market research firm Signify Research.
Following the peak of new market entrants in 2015-2016, the amount of early-stage (Angel, Seed and Series A) investments has since declined. In 2018, investors appear to have shifted their focus to later-stage (series B onwards) investments, although the number of early-stage deals was still slightly higher than later-stage deals. In 2019, Signify Research expects investors will favor the more established medical imaging AI companies and early-stage funding will continue to decline.
HeartFlow is by far the most-funded company, followed by VoxelCloud and Infervision. Of the 84 companies who disclosed funding in the period 2014 to 2018, the average funding per company was $14.4 million ($9.2 million excluding HeartFlow).
In 2018, some of the largest funding rounds went to Asian companies. Excluding HeartFlow’s $240 million Series E round, Asian companies accounted for 42 percent of the $340 million invested in 2018.
Other key findings from the analysis include:
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There are over 120 start-ups developing artificial intelligence solutions for medical imaging.
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Since 2014, these companies have received investments of more than $1.2 billion.
For more information: www.signifyresearch.net