Tag: Signify Research

VC Funding Bounces Back in 2025

Posted on by Brian Casey

After a long slide, venture capital funding for medical imaging AI companies bounced back in 2025. That’s according to the latest report from market intelligence firm Signify Research. 

VC funding of AI startups has declined steadily since 2020, when cheap money fueled by low pandemic-era interest rates spurred a boom in both the total dollar value of investments as well as the number of funding rounds getting done.

  • Previous Signify reports documented the trend well, with the number of funding rounds peaking at nearly 80 in 2020 and total funding crossing the $1B mark in 2021. But by 2024, funding rounds had fallen by 64% and their dollar value by 70%.

But the numbers for 2025 show a turnaround starting, at least with respect to dollar value…

  • Total funding more than doubled compared to the year before ($709M vs. $336M).
  • While the number of funding rounds fell 17% (19 vs. 23).
  • But the size of the average funding round grew 112% ($39M vs. $19M).

In analyzing the numbers, Signify found that while funding momentum is coming back, investors are being more selective. 

  • Capital is concentrating in companies that have a clear enterprise fit, a strong integration pathway, and the ability to operate within platform and imaging IT ecosystems.

Funding rounds of note in 2025 included…

  • Aidoc’s haul of $150M.
  • An Ultromics funding that put the company in Signify’s coveted $100M club.
  • Cerebriu gaining over $10M in a Series A round.
  • a2z pulling in $4.5M in seed funding for its multi-triage platform. 

The report addresses turbulence in the AI platform sector, which saw significant disruption in 2025 after Bayer’s withdrawal from the market. 

  • Platform companies will need to move beyond AI orchestration and show they can actively improve radiology workflows and deliver better clinical decisions and measurable impact. 

The Takeaway

The 2025 bounceback in VC funding for AI firms is welcome news that the correction that followed the sugar high of 2020/2021 may have worked its way through the system. AI investments in 2026 are likely to be smarter and more focused, and in companies that have demonstrated their value in helping radiologists work more efficiently. 

Indies Surge in Imaging IT

Posted on by Brian Casey

The market for medical imaging IT technology continues to shift, with a pair of surging independent players growing rapidly in a sector that’s long been dominated by multinational OEMs. That’s according to the latest report on the imaging IT market by UK market intelligence firm Signify Research. 

The new report is projecting that the global market for imaging information technology will grow 18% over the next few years, from $5.6B in 2023 to $6.6B in 2028. 

  • Radiology will continue to dominate with a majority of sales, with cardiology IT a distant – but growing – second. Advanced visualization and operational workflow tools will make up the rest.

In terms of vendors, the top three market leaders of 2023 were GE HealthCare, Philips, and Fujifilm, but more recently, Visage Imaging and Sectra have been gaining market share. 

  • The report echoes recent news that has seen some of the largest multi-site enterprise imaging installations going to Visage and Sectra; a recent KLAS Research report also showed both companies’ growing momentum. 

Some of the other major points from the report include … 

  • Major growth in cloud deployment will occur – by 2028, 37% of the global imaging IT market will be in either hybrid or fully hosted environments
  • Cloud will represent 44% of the total radiology IT market by 2028
  • On a regional basis, the Middle East will see “significant growth” in imaging IT from 2024 to 2026, particularly in the Gulf States
  • Recovery is expected in China and the ASEAN nations, while India’s growing economy is driving healthcare digitization
  • Latin America is showing rising interest in AI and cloud technologies, but national elections could complicate matters

The Takeaway
The new Signify Research report underscores the evolving nature of the imaging IT market, as independent vendors rise to challenge multinational OEMs that dominated the sector for years. Be sure to check out Signify’s helpful infographic on LinkedIn that succinctly wraps up the changes.

AI Crosses the Chasm

Posted on by Jake Fishman

Despite plenty of challenges, Signify Research forecasts that the global imaging AI market will nearly quadruple by 2026, as AI “crosses the chasm” towards widespread adoption. Here’s how Signify sees that transition happening:

Market Growth – After generating global revenues of around $375M in 2020 and $400M and 2021, Signify expects the imaging AI market to maintain a massive 27.6% CAGR through 2026 when it reaches nearly $1.4B. 

Product-Led Growth – This growth will be partially driven by the availability of new and more-effective AI products, following:

  • An influx of new regulatory-approved solutions
  • Continued improvements to current products (e.g. adding triage to detection tools)
  • AI leaders expanding into new clinical segments
  • AI’s evolution from point solutions to comprehensive solutions/workflows
  • The continued adoption AI platforms/marketplaces

The Big Four – Imaging AI’s top four clinical segments (breast, cardiology, neurology, pulmonology) represented 87% of the AI market in 2021, and those segments will continue to dominate through 2026. 

VC Support – After investing $3.47B in AI startups between 2015 and 2021, Signify expects that VCs will remain a market growth driver, while their funding continues to shift toward later stage rounds. 

Remaining Barriers – AI still faces plenty of barriers, including limited reimbursements, insufficient economic/ROI evidence, stricter regulatory standards (especially in EU), and uncertain future prioritization from healthcare providers and imaging IT vendors. 

The Takeaway

2022 has been a tumultuous year for AI, bringing a number of notable achievements (increased adoption, improving products, new reimbursements, more clinical evidence, big funding rounds) that sometimes seemed to be overshadowed by AI’s challenges (difficult funding climate, market consolidation, slower adoption than previously hoped).  

However, Signify’s latest research suggests that 2022’s ups-and-downs might prove to be part of AI’s path towards mainstream adoption. And based on the steeper growth Signify forecasts for 2025-2026 (see chart above), the imaging AI market’s growth rate and overall value should become far greater after it finally “crosses the chasm.”

Imaging AI’s Big 2021

Posted on by Jake Fishman

Signify Research’s latest imaging AI VC funding report revealed an unexpected surge in 2021, along with major funding shifts that might explain why many of us didn’t see it coming. Here’s some of Signify’s big takeaways and here’s where to get the full report.

AI’s Path to $3.47B – Imaging AI startups have raised $3.47B in venture funding since 2015, helped by a record-high $815M in 2021 after several years of falling investments (vs. 2020’s $592M, 2019’s $450M, 2018’s $790M).

Big Get Bigger – That $3.47B funding total came from over 200 companies and 290 deals, although the 25 highest-funded companies were responsible for 80% of all capital raised. VCs  increased their focus on established AI companies in 2021, resulting in record-high late-stage funding (~$723.5M), record-low Pre-Seed/Seed funding (~$7M), and a major increase in average deal size (~$33M vs. ~$12M in 2020). 

Made in China – If you’re surprised that 2021 was a record AI funding year, that’s probably because it targeted Chinese companies (~$260M vs. US’ ~$150M), continuing a recent trend (China’s AI VC share was 45% in 2020, 26% in 2019). We’re also seeing major funding go to South Korea and Australia’s top startups, adding to APAC AI vendors’ funding leadership.

Health VC Context – Although imaging AI’s $815M 2021 funding total seems big for a category that’s figuring out its path towards full adoption, the amount VC firms are investing in other areas of healthcare makes it seem pretty reasonable. Our two previous Digital Health Wire issues featured seven digital health startup funding rounds with a total value of $267M (and that’s from just one week).

The Takeaway

Signify correctly points out that imaging AI funding remains strong despite a list of headwinds (COVID, regulatory hurdles, lacking reimbursements), while showing more signs of AI market maturation (larger funding rounds to fewer players) and suggesting that consolidation is on the way. Those factors will likely continue in 2022. However, more innovation is surely on the way too and quite a few regional AI powerhouses still haven’t expanded globally, suggesting that the next steps in AI’s evolution won’t be as straightforward as some might think.

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