NIRAMAI Health Analytix, a startup that is building a non-invasive, non-touch, non-radiation approach to detect breast cancer, has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding. The fundraising round was led by pi Ventures, with participation from Ankur Capital, Axilor Ventures, 500 Startups, and Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal.
The company is a pioneer of a new patented technology called Thermalytix that can remove technological, logistical, and cultural barriers that hinder breast cancer screening among women today. Its solution uses artificial intelligence over thermal images to address the issues of early detection of breast cancer.
Manish Singhal, Founding Partner, pi Ventures, said,
Early detection is key to saving lives and is enabled very well with the innovative and disruptive AI based solution from NIRAMAI. We are excited to partner with them in their journey to solve this important and worldwide problem.
Co-founder of the Mumbai-based impact investor Ankur Capital, Dr. Ritu Verma said,
We are very excited to partner with NIRAMAI. Their early detection solution is low cost, zero radiation and non contact, which very effectively addresses the concerns and limitations for larger adoption of screening for women across all segments.
While Flipkart’s Binny Bansal termed the company as socially relevant, innovative, and with good market potential, Shalini Prakash from 500 Startups says that NIRAMAI’s technology solves the problem for millions of Indian women by early detection and taking preventive measures for breast cancer ahead of time.
NIRAMAI was founded in July 2016 by Dr. Geetha Manjunath and Nidhi Mathur. Geetha who comes with 25 years of research and innovation expertise in areas such as data analytics, machine learning, cloud computing, semantic web while Nidhi is a serial intrapreneur with rich experience in business planning, strategy and product management.
Dr. Geetha Manjunath, CEO & Co-founder of NIRAMAI, says,
Mortality rates among breast cancer patients are very high in India. Our solution is portable, low-cost, very safe, privacy-sensitive and can detect cancer at a very early stage making it very suitable for regular preventive health checkup as well as screening camps. This investment will help us strengthen our IP portfolio, expand operations and ensure our cancer screening tool is readily available for commercial use.
The startup is on a mission to create a universal cancer screening method that can save lives by detecting breast cancer at an early stage. The overall hardware-software solution is portable and uses big data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning for reliable, early and accurate breast cancer screening. Their method of screening is based on principles of Thermography that can detect tumors 5 years before mammography or a clinical exam can detect the same.
