StartX listens deeply to Eko

Eko, a US-based manufacturer of smart stethoscopes, has secured $2m in external funding.

Founder.Org Capital and Splunk founder Michael Baum led the round, which saw also participation from Stanford StartX Fund.

Founded in 2013 at University of California (UC) Berkeley’s accelerator Skydeck, Eko has attracted an advisory board of cardiologists from Johns Hopkins, Stanford, and UC San Francisco (UCSF). Its primary technology combines stethoscopes with smartphones, and allows for digital monitoring of heart sounds which can be later analysed in depth. Cash from the round will be used to start a clinical study into the technology at UCSF.

Conner Landgraf, Eko’s CEO, said: “Though the stethoscope is an icon of medicine and one of clinicians’ most trusted tools, it is a 200-year old technology greatly in need of an update. This investment round and upcoming UCSF study is a momentous step towards a new age in stethoscope intelligence and cardiac monitoring.”