AI pathology aid developer Medmain, a Kyushu Universty-aligned startup, will use the capital to support international expansion.
Medmain, a Japan-based pathology assistant software developer aligned to Kyushu University, has secured ¥1.1bn ($10.3m) from investors including IHW Group, operator of medical university International University of Health and Welfare, The Bridge reported on Wednesday.
Tokyo Institute of Technology’s Innovations and Future Creation also took part, as did health system Fukuoka Wajiro Hospital Group, telecoms group SoftBank’s Deepcore fund, consultancy Dogan’s investment arm Dogan Beta, QTnet, Hike Ventures and unnamed angel investors.
Hike Ventures leveraged a special purpose vehicle to arrange the funding, which The Bridge suggested was a series A round.
Founded in 2018, Medmain has built software and hardware to support pathology, the branch of medicine concerned with investigating tissues extracted from the patient to confirm a medical diagnosis.
Pathologists employ the software to remotely investigate digital scans, and receive image recognition-driven suggestions that improve as more cases are added to its database.
Medmain works alongside more than 50 Japanese medical institutions including Kyushu University’s medical school and teaching hospital. The software was officially launched in February 2020.
The funding will go to product development and lining up fresh talent as Medmain aims to expand internationally. As Japanese legal regulations have barred its product from clinical patient settings, Medmain is restricted to research clients domestically.
Deepcore and Dogan Beta had combined to supply $900,000 to Medmain in August 2018.