Us2.ai receives Series A funding to improve detection of cardiovascular disease, leveraging Artificial Intelligence

Singapore-based medical technology developer, Us2.ai, has announced it has raised US$15m (€13.9m) in a Series A investment round led by IHH Healthcare and Heal Partners.

Us2.ai (formerly Eko.ai) is the first spinout of an 11-country cardiovascular research platform supported by Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star).

According to a press release by the company, it is the first ever FDA-cleared AI software that fully automates a complete echocardiography (heart ultrasound) report.

Other investors included Pappas Capital and existing investors including Sequoia India, EDBI and Partech Ventures.

The new funds will be used to drive Us2.ai’s ambitious growth targets for clinical implementation in the US, Europe and Asia, the firm states, as well as the expansion of commercial activities with leading pharmaceutical companies, research labs, and imaging providers worldwide.

James Hare, CEO and co-founder of Us2.ai, comments: “Our focus has been to create a comprehensive solution that goes beyond the existing industry standard of partial automation requiring manual intervention and providing limited measurements,” said “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.”

Dr Carolyn Lam, Senior Consultant Cardiologist at National Heart Centre Singapore, Professor at Duke-National University of Singapore and co-founder of Us2.ai: “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.”

Us2.ai said it has completed multiple projects with global pharmaceutical partners as well as a ground breaking approval study at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Their patented software workflow was recently described in Lancet Digital Health, where external validation was demonstrated in large, diverse, real world patient studies globally, the company claimed.

IHH managing director and CEO, Dr Kelvin Loh, added: “Through investments in innovative digital health companies like Us2.ai, we seek to support and make cutting-edge clinical tools and care (in this case AI-powered echocardiogram analysis) more accessible and affordable for patients, and enhance the delivery of care by doctors. This will speed up the diagnosis of heart conditions for the public.”

Heal partner Martin Robinson, continued: “Heal is delighted to support the company’s mission to automate the fight against cardiovascular disease, the world’s number one killer. We are extremely impressed by the development pace and broad scope of Us2.ai’s leading technology. We look forward to helping it reach its potential for global scale whilst democratising access to this revolutionary tool for the early diagnosis of heart issues.”

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