University of Liverpool AI diagnostic technology spin-out, AI-Sight, has successfully concluded its seven-figure equity funding round from experienced healthcare industry figures and investors.
The funders, committed to developing innovation and business in the North West of England, include Sir Michael Bibby (Chairman of the Bibby Line Group and Hon PhD, University of Liverpool), Phil Kirby (former Managing Director of InHealth Intelligence), Pitalia Capital (the family office of Anil Pitalia, Founder of SpaMedica) and Deepbridge Capital.
This follows the Class 1 medical device certification of AI-Sight's first commercial product. The AI software device is designed to support training and diagnostic decision-making by human graders of diabetic retinopathy in retinal scans.
Building on this success, AI-Sight has signed a research collaboration agreement with the UK's largest specialist provider of diagnostic and healthcare solutions, the InHealth Group. InHealth has been working closely with the NHS for over thirty years.
The collaboration between InHealth, AI-Sight and the University of Liverpool will allow further clinical studies for AI-Sight's unique AI diagnostic technology. With existing data indicating high levels of performance, the collaboration brings together industry leading healthcare solutions and the deep research and clinical experience of the AI-Sight team to accelerate the commercial study programme. The studies will be led by Dr Phil Burgess (Senior Lecturer in Clinical Ophthalmology) and AI-Sight's University of Liverpool founders Professors Simon Harding, Elizabeth Maitland and David Wong.
Professor Simon Harding, Chief Medical Officer of AI-Sight, described the collaboration as: "An exciting opportunity that will allow us to test deployment of our AI technologies with one of the largest commercial suppliers of diabetic retinopathy screening in the UK and elsewhere, and add further external validation data for imminent regulatory submissions. Vision loss from diabetes is such a huge challenge throughout the world and prevention is only possible through organised screening. With the successful conclusion of our funding round, it is an exciting time for AI-Sight, advancing our ground-breaking technology towards allowing affordable screening programmes and a profound impact on the lives of people with diabetes worldwide."
Dr Carolyn Horrocks, Head of Medtech & Bioscience Enterprise, The Enterprise Team, University of Liverpool, said: "The University is delighted by the continuing success of our spin-out company AI-Sight, not only in raising commercial investment, but also in establishing industry collaborations that are supporting further research at the University. This is a strong return on the University's Enterprise Investment Fund's initial investment commitment to support AI-Sight. The company's continuing work to translate University research into technologies and products that can transform lives around the world is part of our commitment to fostering innovation, entrepreneurship and impact by our world class researchers."
This funding round will support MHRA approval and Class 2 certification for AI-Sight's full diagnostic platform and its launch in the UK and internationally. The platform is designed to improve patient outcomes, with additional benefits that promote efficiency in public health systems and ensure human resources are allocated to the areas of greatest need.
The University of Liverpool is proud to support its spin out companies through its Enterprise Investment Fund, which provided start-up capital to AI Sight, and additional bridging capital alongside Deepbridge to enable to company to pursue further investment.
Dr Andy Round, Investment Director at Deepbridge Capital, commented: "We are delighted to have supported another spin-out from the University of Liverpool. The exciting work being undertaken, and the significant progress being made, by AI Sight represent a great example of how a collaborative innovation ecosystem successfully spins out academic research into transformative technologies. Such collaborations also exemplify how Government initiatives, such as the Enterprise Investment Scheme and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, are encouraging private investment into such exciting technology innovations. We look forward to continuing to support the AI Sight team and the University going forward."
Given the level of investor interest in AI-Sight, the company has also announced that it will open its next round of funding in Autumn 2024.
