- Digital health company Eko announced it raised $20 million in funding to fight heart disease
Eko — a digital health company that builds machine learning tools to fight heart disease — announced it raised $20 million in Series B funding. This round of funding was led by ARTIS Ventures. Additional new and returning investors that joined the round include DigiTx Partners, NTT Venture Capital (NTTVC), 3M Ventures, Mayo Clinic, Seraph Group, and XTX Ventures.
With this round of funding, Eko will drive further research and development and commercialization of its machine learning platform for cardiac screening and analysis.
According to statistics from the American Heart Association show that cardiovascular disease is the leading global cause of death as it accounts for more than 17.6 million deaths per year in 2016. And this number is expected to grow to more than 23.6 million by 2030.
“With the staggering number of people affected by heart disease, it’s clear that advancements in cardiac screening and monitoring have never been more urgent. Artificial intelligence is arguably one of the most powerful advancements in modern medicine, enabling clinicians to predict with more accuracy, diagnose with more confidence, and in the end, give their patients the best care possible,” said Eko CEO Connor Landgraf. “We will use this funding to drive more research, and continue development of data-driven technology to help physicians detect and monitor patients with heart disease that may otherwise be missed.”
Eko is currently partnered with medical device and pharmaceutical companies to create combinations of therapies and data to help personalize cardiac care. And Eko will also grow its focus on clinical research by investing more in its collaborations with the Mayo Clinic, Northwestern Medicine, and UCSF.
As Eko grows its collaborative studies, it will enable the company to build algorithms with more robust datasets targeted to specific conditions such as atrial fibrillation and valvular heart disease as well as congestive heart failure and structural heart disease.
Eko developed the first cardiac monitor to combine digital stethoscope and ECG technology both for in-clinic and at-home monitoring — which enables patients to seamlessly and consistently send cardiac data to physicians. And the Eko platform is used by tens of thousands of clinicians treating millions of patients at over 3,000 hospitals and providers around the world.
“Eko is transforming cardiac care as we know it,” added Vasudev Bailey, PhD, a partner at ARTIS Ventures. “They are the perfect example of how machine learning using quality data sets can positively influence patient outcomes and improve quality of care. This demonstrates the potential for an immense pipeline of life-saving applications where sound can aid in the screening of many other diseases.”
Mayo Clinic is working with Eko to develop and commercialize a machine learning-based algorithm that screens patients for the presence of a low ejection fraction (a weak heart pump). And once identified, evidence-based treatments are available that prolong life and reduce the risk of symptoms.
Northwestern Medicine is collaborating with Eko on a study to improve valvular heart disease screening using machine learning with plans to further expand this study in the coming year.
And Sutter Health is currently using Eko’s enterprise software in Northern California to connect cardiologists in Sacramento with patients who visit rural clinics for ongoing cardiology services.
