Company’s technology will transform care for patients with brain disorders and injuries
May 14th, 2019 – Leuven/Geneva/Boston icometrix, the global expert in brain imaging Artificial Intelligence solutions, has raised $18 million through a partnership led by Forestay Capital alongside Optum Ventures and existing investor Capricorn Venture Partners.
icometrix’s icobrain software, which is both CE-marked and FDA-cleared, extracts clinically meaningful information from brain MRI and CT scans of patients with neurological disorders, such as Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, and traumatic brain injury. The icobrain AI solutions are already used in more than 100 hospitals and imaging center networks worldwide, and in clinical studies by 4 out of the Top 5 pharmaceutical companies.
“With icobrain, medical images can be read faster, more consistently and in a more personalized fashion by quantifying the volume of brain structures and abnormalities.” said Wim Van Hecke, CEO of icometrix. “One in three people will suffer from a brain disorder, often due to a chronic disease, leading to an immense burden for patients, friends, families, caregivers and society. Brain scans play a central role in patient diagnosis and monitoring, creating a huge need for objective and patient-specific evaluation of MRI and CT brain scan images with tools like icobrain.”
“Forestay is delighted to partner with icometrix’s management and to help drive forward its growing success story. This technology transforms the way we diagnose, monitor and treat people with brain disorders and we can see its immense potential to improve neurological diagnostics, making a complex process quicker and more effective for each individual patient. Our own investor, the Waypoint Capital group, has a deep heritage in the health care sector and also owns Affidea, the largest imaging center network in Europe, which has partnered with icometrix to develop the standardization protocols for its large-scale deployment across Europe. This gives us great confidence in its future value potential,” said Frederic Wohlwend, Managing Partner of Forestay Capital.
“We strongly believe in the power of data to help diagnose, monitor and treat neurological disorders,” said Heather Roxborough, Partner at Optum Ventures. “By putting icometrix’s innovative AI brain imaging solutions in the hands of clinicians and radiologists worldwide, we can help improve the lives of millions of people with brain disorders.”
About Forestay:
Founded in 2017, Forestay invests in the tech sector and is focused on innovative revenue-generating technology companies, in Europe, Israel and the US, that challenge established models, primarily through software and data. It is part of Waypoint Capital, chaired by Ernesto Bertarelli, which supports a broad portfolio of leading investment businesses.
www.forestaycapital.com
About Optum Ventures:
Optum Ventures is the independent venture fund of Optum, a leading information and technology-enabled health services business dedicated to helping make the health system work better for everyone. Optum Ventures invests in digital health companies that use data and insights to help improve consumers’ access to health care services and how care is delivered and paid for, and that make the health care system more reliable and easier to navigate.
www.optumventures.com
About Capricorn Venture Partners:
Capricorn Venture Partners is an independent licensed European manager of venture capital and equity funds, investing in innovative European companies with technology as competitive advantage. The investment team of Capricorn is composed of experienced investment managers with deep technology expertise and a broad industrial experience. Capricorn Venture Partners is investing out of the private venture capital funds Capricorn ICT Fund, Capricorn Sustainable Chemistry Fund, Capricorn Cleantech Fund and Capricorn Health-tech Fund. In addition, it is the management company of Quest for Growth, quoted on NYSE Euronext Brussels, and the investment manager of Quest Cleantech Fund and Quest+, sub-funds of Quest Management SICAV.
www.capricorn.be
About icometrix:
icometrix (Leuven, Belgium; Chicago, USA) is the world leader in software solutions to obtain clinically meaningful data from brain MRI and CT scans for patients with Multiple Sclerosis, Traumatic Brain Injury, Epilepsy, Alzheimer’s Disease, Stroke, etc. The fully automated icobrain software is FDA approved and has market approval in Europe, Japan, Canada, Brazil, and Australia. Today, icometrix is internationally active, the icobrain software is used in 100+ hospitals and icometrix works with the largest pharmaceutical and health tech companies.
bron: www.icometrix.com