Subtle Medical, a US-based medical imaging processing spinout from Stanford University, has secured an undisclosed amount of seed capital from VC fund Deep Health Seed Program, TechCrunch has reported.
Founded in 2017, Subtle Medical is developing a medical imaging platform that applies deep learning technologies to enhance imaging exams on lower-quality scans, potentially reducing the number of repeat radiology procedures required to establish a diagnosis.
Subtle believes the technology will process four times the number of MRI and PET examinations that conventional equivalents take, boosting the healthcare provider’s capacity while lessening the patient’s exposure to radiation.
Subtle Medical was co-founded by Greg Zaharchuk, a radiology professor affiliated with Stanford’s Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, together with Enhao Gong, a PhD candidate at the university’s Magnetic Resonance Systems Research Laboratory whose work focuses on potential medical imaging applications of deep learning.
Subtle Medical is the first publicly disclosed investment for Deep Health Seed Fund, a new $10m early-stage vehicle launched by VC firm Bessemer Venture Partners aimed at machine learning-based healthcare technologies.
The spinout previously secured $1.1m at an undisclosed date from Baidu Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of internet group Baidu, as well as ZhenFund, Data Collective, Wisemont Capital and Tsingyuan Ventures.
