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Radiology VC Funding Boom? | New Ultrasound Debuts
January 30, 2025
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Together with
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“AI market consolidation is inevitable, with the opportunity that some of the recent funds could support future mergers and acquisitions.”
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Umar Ahmed of Signify Research, on the recent boom in radiology AI funding.
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Radiology venture capital funding appears to be gaining momentum in the first few weeks of 2025. This past week has seen the release of six funding rounds, led by a massive $260M Series B from preventive medicine firm Neko Health.
Venture capital funding is a closely watched barometer for any industry built on innovation, and radiology is no exception, especially the imaging AI sector.
- Radiology venture capital funding got off to a particularly slow start in 2024, and by year end funding specifically for imaging AI was down 48% compared to 2023 ($335M vs. $646M according to Signify Research). This raised concerns about whether imaging startups might face a decline in VC investment – the equivalent of choking off their air supply before products in development could begin generating commercial sales.
A CB Insights report earlier this month found that the nature of venture capital investment in digital health has indeed changed, with fewer but larger deals getting done.
- This was widely seen as VC firms pivoting to quality, with investors demanding proof of progress in the clinical, regulatory, and commercial realms.
That brings us to the recent funding rounds …
- Neko Health raised $260M that it will use to expand its Neko Body Scan from its current beachheads in Stockholm and London to other locations in Europe and the U.S.
- Rad AI raised $60M in a round that follows on a $50M Series B less than a year ago as it moves to commercialize its AI-powered radiology reporting software.
- Quibim raised $50M in a Series A round to advance its work in imaging biomarkers through AI foundation models that analyze MRI, CT, and PET scans.
- Annalise.ai parent Harrison.ai received $20M (USD) in funding from an Australian government investment fund to further develop its radiology and pathology AI.
- Springbok Analytics raised $5M in a Series A round to fund its AI technology for analyzing muscle health from MRI scans.
- Sycai Medical raised $3.1M for its AI for detecting abdominal cancers.
These six deals – combined with other recent funding rounds from Median Technologies, Core Sound, and BrainSightAI – show that January 2025 has already exceeded the five radiology venture capital deals recorded during the first four months of 2024.
The Takeaway
Do this week’s developments in radiology venture capital funding represent a boom, a boomlet, or just a string of coincidences? Whichever it is, startups would have to acknowledge that any interest from VC investors is better than the alternative.
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