Enlitic holding residual funding talks after USD 15m Series B
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ENLITIC HOLDING RESIDUAL FUNDING TALKS AFTER USD 15M SERIES B
TIM LEEMASTER
Enlitic, the San Francisco, California-based medical diagnostics company using AI, continues to hold residual funding discussions with potential investors after announcing the close of a USD 15m Series B earlier this month, CEO Kevin Lyman said.
“We’re heavily considering taking some additional capital,” Lyman said. “We’re evaluating our needs.”
While the company may add to the amount it has just raised any major new funds will likely await a higher valuation in a Series C later, Lyman added.
The Series B was led by Japanese trading firm Marubeni and saw founder and former CEO Jeremy Howard make a complete exit. Australia’s Capital Health, a medical imaging company and existing shareholder, also participated, according to a press release at the time.
Enlitic hopes to receive US Federal and Drug Administration approval later this year for its chest X-ray technology. Australian regulatory approval is also in process, and could come in slightly before the US, Lyman said.
The company hopes to expand out of AI-enabled chest X-ray processing and be able to help radiologists analyze X-rays from about 95% of the human body by the end of this year. CT scanning technology would follow.
Enlitic currently generates revenue from insurance companies and health care firms with processes that can make patient data anonymous. To do the testing Enlitic needed for its own technology the company was forced to develop anonymization processes. “It’s not our core focus,” Lyman said. He declined to say how much revenue Enlitic is currently generating.
The company has already used some of the recent funds it raised to finance a new computer processing center in Washington state, which opened in January.
Enlitic, Marubeni and Konica Minolta plan to announce a chest X-ray partnership this week that will see Konica Minolta, a major X-ray machine maker, take up the costs of Japanese regulatory approval and integrate Enlitic’s AI technology into its systems.
Trials are currently under design and discussions with Japanese regulators have begun, Lyman said.
Proceeds from the recent fundraise are also supporting hiring. The company expects to have about 40 or so staff by the fall of this year, double that of about the same time in 2018.
The company has filled regulatory, product design, business development and clinical operation roles as well as positions more focused on AI technology development.