Medical imaging startup Nanox raises $20m

Medical imaging startup Nanox announced today they have successfully raised $20m in a Series B funding round which was led by SK Telecom and had participation from previous investor Fujifilm. 

The company did not specify what the funding will exactly be used on or for but did mention that they intend to “establish a wholly-owned Korean subsidiary that will focus on scaling up production of the Nanox X-ray source semiconductor while leveraging SK Telecom’s deep expertise in the area of semiconductors” which will likely require funds of some sort making the new investment a viable use. 

Nanox has a non-regulated vision system called Nanox.Arc (Arc) which is similar to X-ray source technology which claims it can significantly lower the cost of medical imaging hardware to roughly $10,000 compared to the $1-3m it costs at the moment which of course makes it more accessible to people who need scans and results. 

Nanox plans to have its medical imaging systems deployed across the world with the goal to “drive early detection preventive healthcare as a new standard of care”. 

Ran Poliakine, CEO of Nanox explained why the investment will help them achieve their goal by saying: “Nanox’s vision is nothing short of helping eradicate cancer and other conditions that plague us by increasing early detection of medical conditions that are discoverable by X-ray. We have been working for over eight years to bring a new breed of imaging to the world that can help us achieve this ambitious goal. Big visions require big partnerships to become real. SK Telecom is one of our greatest supporters and we go hand in hand for creating a world where no person has to wait weeks and months in line for radiology services and diagnostics.”

Their medical imaging product Arc has been in development for eight years and claims to enable a significant reduction in medical imaging systems cost and footprint. 

Their product and system will offer a range of medical imaging services, from 2D X-ray to 3D Tomosynthesis computed tomography, and will be operated on a pay-per-scan payment model. 

Nanox’s product does this by transmitting data to its cloud SaaS platform where it provides secure imaging analysis and billing services to then be passed on to medical community professionals from across the globe to do diagnosis on the condition while also having medical AI systems provide decision assistive information and doctors in hospitals getting real-time access. 

Nanox is not the only company who’ve successfully raised funds in the healthcare sector with Orbita recently raising $9m for their healthcare conversational AI.

In the announcement, Nanox said they will be partnering with lead investors SK Telecom to deploy 2,500 of Nanox’s systems across South Korea and Vietnam during 2021 providing they meet regulatory standards. 

This is part of Nanox’s larger plans to deploy 15,000 of its medical imaging systems globally in the near term. 

Park Jung-ho, CEO of SK Telecom gave reasoning for the companies investment in Nanox by saying: “We passionately seek to revolutionize healthcare by leveraging innovative technologies. We see Nanox as one of the most promising companies to make a real difference for early detection of disease and higher standard of care to the humankind. We feel the Company is making significant progress towards its vision and want to help make it a reality.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that two-thirds of the world’s population currently lacks access to medical imaging which leads to long waits and increased mortality rates due to early detection of disease and infection. 

Due to COVID-19, it could be likely these waiting times will be further increased with countries shifting resources, both financially and timely, to control the pandemic and reduce hospital capacities. 

Providing Nanox can get its product Arc, and supporting cloud SaaS platform to meet regulatory standards, hospitals and patients could save resources to be spent elsewhere but more importantly save more lives through earlier detection. 

The Series B funding round brings the total raised capital for Nanox to $80m, following a $26m raise in January 2020 and an initial $5m investment from SK Telecom in 2019.