Mediwhale – an AI-empowered health diagnostics company that uses retina scans to diagnose future cardiac and kidney disorder risk quickly and easily – announced it has closed a Series A funding round of $9 million with investors from the United States and South Korea. SBI Investment led the round and was one of four returning investors including BNK Venture Capital, Innopolis Partners, and IPS Ventures.
Woori Venture Partners and HeartX Fund joined as first-time investors. And Mayo Clinic, Arizona State University, Medaxiom, and the HealthTech Arkansas Program also became shareholders in this round. Mediwhale is participating in 3 accelerator programs, including MedTech Accelerator Program by the Mayo Clinic and Arizona State University Alliance for Health Care, HeartX, and the Stanford University-affiliated StartX.
Reti-Intelligence utilizes non-invasive retinal scans through a common fundus camera combined with extensively trained deep-learning algorithms to detect disease risks even before symptoms appear. And this initial assessment, conducted in primary care in less than one minute, can save patients time, and money, and the negative impacts of diseases that otherwise could go undetected.
Mediwhale’s focus areas are cardiovascular (Reti-CVD), kidneys (Reti-CKD), eyes (Reti-Eye), and aging (Reti-Age). And Reti-Eye shows a minimum of 96% accuracy and Reti-CVD predicts cardiovascular risk as accurately as a cardiac CT.
With the Series A funding round, Mediwhale plans to accelerate the global commercialization of Reti-CVD. And the company aims to increase sales and position itself as a leader in the global AI healthcare market.
On top of the product approvals in 8 territories including South Korea, the European Union, and the UK, Mediwhale is taking steps to establish a foundation for entering the U.S. market by obtaining FDA approval and implementing U.S. insurance coverage with a goal of final FDA approval by 2024. And Mediwhale also aims to secure additional clinical evidence in the U.S. to further solidify its accuracy and validity.
Mediwhale’s journey started in 2016 when the co-founders met under unfortunate circumstances. Kevin T. Choi, a recent graduate student, was a patient of Dr. Tyler H. Rim, a vitreoretinal surgeon, being treated for advanced glaucoma. And the diagnosis came too late, and Choi lost nearly 40% of his vision.
Following the treatment, both Choi and Rim shared a strong interest in using machine learning to aid prevention, and together they founded Mediwhale to bring this to fruition. And they were determined to advance non-invasive technology and bridge the healthcare gap between medical professionals and communities by enabling individuals to learn about their health risks early.
Choi and Rim added award-winning computer scientist Young G. Lee to develop the algorithm and AI solutions that Mediwhale is trailblazing today. Choi serves as CEO; Rim is Chief Medical Officer and Lee is Chief Technology Officer.
KEY QUOTES:
“The digital health care market is growing rapidly thanks to the development and application of AI technology. As validated in the top peer-reviewed medical journals, Mediwhale has shown great potential to set a new biomarker in diagnosis and prevention of cardiovascular disease. We expect Mediwhale to become a global healthcare gamechanger in the near future.”
– Sungyeop Jang, the director of Woori Venture Partners
“Mediwhale is a startup that helps both patients and healthcare professionals prevent and manage cardiovascular diseases with a simple eye test. We believe the success in securing investment in a challenging environment is due to investors resonating with our vision. We are striving to make this important technology available in clinical settings worldwide.”
– Mediwhale CEO Kevin Choi
