IHH Healthcare – a Singapore Exchange and Bursa Malaysia-listed healthcare operator – and investment company Heal Partners are leading a US$15 million ($20.3 million) series A round in medtech start-up Us2.ai.
IHH Healthcare CEO Kelvin Loh says that the company is looking to support and make cutting-edge clinical tools and care more accessible and affordable for patients, through its investments in digital health companies like Us2.ai.
“[This will] enhance the delivery of care by doctors [and] will speed up the diagnosis of heart conditions for the public,” he explains.
The round also has participation from existing investors like Sequoia India and EDBI – the corporate investment arm of Singapore’s Economic Development Board (EDB).
The Singapore-based Us2.ai has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) powered software that can fully automate a complete echocardiography, a heart ultrasound report.
The new funds will be used to drive the company’s plans for clinical implementation in the US, Europe and Asia. It will also go towards the expansion of commercial activities with leading pharmaceutical companies, research labs and imaging providers globally.
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“Us2.ai will increase patient access to echocardiography by providing a unique AI solution that completely automates the reading of studies, with accuracy comparable to experts, yet over 30 times faster, leaving doctors in full control and with more time to spend with patients,” says Carolyn Lam, co-founder of Us2.ai.
Lam is also a senior consultant cardiologist at the National Heart Centre as well as a professor at the Duke-National University of Singapore.
Her co-founder James Hare adds that the company’s focus is to create a “comprehensive solution that goes beyond the existing industry standard of partial automation [which involves] manual intervention and limited measurements”.
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“Our software automatically processes full echocardiographic studies of 2D and Doppler images from any vendor, in less than two minutes, delivering complete echo reports, with fully explainable measurements, editable annotations and conclusions for every chamber of the heart,” explains Hare who is also the CEO of Us2.ai.
Cover image: Us2.ai
