Us2.ai Secures US$15M Series A To Improve AI Detection of Cardiovascular Disease

The round will accelerate US2.AI’s global commercial and regulatory rollout

SINGAPORE, 14 APRIL 2022: Us2.ai, the Singapore-based medtech developers of FDA- cleared AI software that, for the first time ever, fully automates a complete echocardiography (heart ultrasound) report, today announced it has raised US$15 million in a series A round led by IHH Healthcare and Heal Partners, with participation from Pappas Capital and existing investors including Sequoia India, EDBI and Partech Ventures.

The new funds will be used to drive Us2.ai’s ambitious growth targets for clinical implementation in the US, Europe and Asia, as well as the expansion of commercial activities with leading pharmaceutical companies, research labs, and imaging providers worldwide.

“Our focus has been to create a comprehensive solution that goes beyond the existing industry standard of partial automation requiring manual intervention and providing limited measurements,” said James Hare, CEO and co-founder of Us2.ai. “Our software automatically processes full echocardiographic studies of 2D and Doppler images from any vendor, in less than two minutes, delivering complete echo reports, with fully explainable measurements, editable annotations and conclusions for every chamber of the heart.”

“Us2.ai will increase patient access to echocardiography by providing a unique AI solution that completely automates the reading of studies, with accuracy comparable to experts, yet over 30 times faster; leaving doctors in full control and with more time to spend with patients,” said Dr Carolyn Lam, Senior Consultant Cardiologist at National Heart Centre Singapore, Professor at Duke-National University of Singapore and co-founder of Us2.ai.

Us2.ai has completed multiple projects with global pharmaceutical partners as well as a ground breaking approval study at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital. Their patented software workflow was recently described in Lancet Digital Health, where external validation was demonstrated in large, diverse, real world patient studies globally.

IHH Managing Director and CEO, Dr Kelvin Loh stated “Through investments in innovative digital health companies like Us2.ai, we seek to support and make cutting-edge clinical tools and care (in this case AI-powered echocardiogram analysis) more accessible and affordable for patients, and enhance the delivery of care by doctors. This will speed up the diagnosis of heart conditions for the public.”

HEAL Partner, Martin Robinson, said “Heal is delighted to support the company’s mission to automate the fight against cardiovascular disease, the world’s number one killer. We are extremely impressed by the development pace and broad scope of Us2.ai’s leading technology. We look forward to helping it reach its potential for global scale whilst democratising access to this revolutionary tool for the early diagnosis of heart issues.”

About Us2.ai

Us2.ai uses machine learning to automate the fight against heart disease. The company’s software tools improve clinical decision making and cardiovascular research for clinical trials using echocardiography, the safest and most common cardiac imaging modality. Us2.ai connects institutions and imaging labs around the world on a platform of ready to use automation tools for view classification, segmentation and federated learning across diverse, anonymous patient and disease cohorts. Us2.ai is a fast-growing startup backed by Sequoia India and EDBI.

Us2’s measurements

Us2’s product Us2.v1 has automated measurements that include 2-dimensional (cardiac volumes, all 4 chambers of the heart), M-mode (e.g. tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion), spectral Doppler (blood flow across all valves, both PW and CW measurements) and tissue Doppler – covering the vast majority of standard measurements for adult transthoracic echocardiography recommended by the American Society of Echocardiography, European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging, and British Society of Echocardiography.

Fully automated Us2.v1 measurements were shown to be completely interchangeable with expert human measurements and were completely reproducible for a given patient study.

Measurements validated at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital:

Left ventricle: DecT, MV-A, MV-Adur, MV-E, e’ lateral, e’ septal, a’ lateral, a’ septal, s’ lateral, s’ septal, LVEDV MOD biplane, LVEF MOD biplane, LVESV MOD biplane, LVSV MOD biplane, IVSd, LVIDd, LVIDs, LVPWd, E/e’ mean

Left atrium: LAESV MOD biplane Right ventricle: RVIDd

Right atrium: RAa Tricuspid valve: Tr Vmax

Image processing/analysis algorithm had a computation time of approximately two minutes per study. Total time for interpretation of a study can depend on other factors such as the interpreting physician and preparation for uploading DICOMs for analysis.

ABOUT IHH HEALTHCARE (“IHH”)

A world-leading integrated healthcare provider, IHH believes that making a difference starts with a shared aspiration: Care. For Good.

Our team of 65,000 people commit to deliver greater good to our patients, people, the public and our planet, as we live our purpose each day to touch lives and transform care.

Through our portfolio of trusted brands – Acibadem, Mount Elizabeth, Prince Court, Gleneagles, Fortis, Pantai, Parkway and IMU – we offer our patients comprehensive and personalised care ranging from primary to quaternary, and even ancillary services such as laboratory, diagnostics, imaging and rehabilitation.

With our scale and reach in 10 countries, we continue to raise the bar in healthcare in our key markets of Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey, India, Greater China (including Hong Kong) and beyond.

In partnership with our stakeholders, we will co-create a sustainable future for all as we work towards our vision to become the world’s most trusted healthcare services network.

More information can be found at www.ihhhealthcare.com.

About HEAL Partners

HEAL is an early and growth stage acceleration investment vehicle focused on revenue generating growth businesses in the health, education and lifestyle sectors with the potential for global scale or industry disruption. HEAL is led by a team of proven founders, investors and operators. HEAL is focused on capitalising on opportunities created by new specialties and technologies in large and growing markets and has a strong commitment to ESG.

Visit: www.healpartners.com