LEADOPTIK – a Silicon Valley-based medical imaging company – announced that it has raised $5 million in an oversubscribed series seed funding led by MetaVC Partners with participation from SOSV, Sony Innovation Fund, TSVC, ENEA, Arash Ferdowsi (co-founder of Dropbox), Ray Muzyka (co-founder of BioWare), and others. This funding round will allow LEADOPTIK to move to the next stage of product development -including FDA approval – on the path to commercialization.
The company is developing a miniaturized imaging system ushering in a new level of real-time imaging deep inside human lungs and enabling early diagnoses of cancer. And combining novel nanofabrication and innovative optical metamaterials technology, the company’s product will allow surgeons to view objects that are fifty times smaller than what is possible with current imaging systems.
By utilizing proprietary optics made from dielectric metasurfaces, LEADOPTIK shrunk the optical elements to a size comparable with that of human hair. And due to its unprecedented small size, driven by advanced imaging software, the probe can travel through even the narrowest airways, enabling for real-time imaging and detection of tiny tumors. In addition, the small form factor of LEADOPTIK’s probe allows its integration with biopsy needles, providing real-time guidance during biopsy procedures. This integration is critical for increasing the accuracy of biopsies, which are often performed blindly.
According to the World Health Organization, lung cancer is known for being responsible for the highest number of cancer-related deaths worldwide. And early detection and diagnosis are vital to a patient’s survival; however, there are currently no effective approaches for diagnosing cancer at its earliest stages.
KEY QUOTES:
“As a technical CEO, I feel incredibly fortunate to witness how my work on metasurface technology has the potential to enhance people’s health. This funding is a very encouraging step to get us closer to that goal.”
— Reza Khorasaninejad, co-founder and CEO of LEADOPTIK
“I am thrilled to be part of this exciting journey and grateful for the support of visionary investors who are helping us bring the true benefits of this cutting-edge technology to patients.”
— Jiang You, co-founder of LEADOPTIK
“We look for exciting investment opportunities like LEADOPTIK, where breakthroughs are being made with novel solutions like optical metamaterials.”
— Conrad Burke, managing partner at MetaVC Partners
“We believe that such technology innovation has the potential to transform healthcare, particularly in areas such as cancer diagnostics, where there is a large unmet need for more accurate and timely screening and diagnosis. The work that LEADOPTIK is doing in developing novel imaging technologies to address lung cancer detection is a perfect example of that.”
— Austin Noronha, Managing Director-US, Sony Ventures
