Amsterdam-based Healthplus.ai, a company that provides artificial intelligence tools to solve medical and health-related challenges, announced on Tuesday that it has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Eindhoven-based LUMO Labs.
“We are very happy to have found in LUMO Labs the perfect partner to support us in this incredibly exciting and crucial phase of certification and go-to-market,” says Bart Geerts, founder and CEO of Healthplus.ai.
“Reduce post-surgery infections”
Infection is a serious postoperative risk for the 300 million patients who undergo surgical procedures each year globally. Data shows that as much as 25 per cent, or 75 million people, are diagnosed with infections following surgery. These infections cause chronic issues for 25 million of them.
A research by Healthplus.ai indicates that an average European hospital spends around €35M per year on the treatment of post-surgical infections. Currently, diagnosis and treatment start after a patient has already developed symptoms.
Founded in 2017 by Bart Geerts and Bart Steverink, Healthplus.ai’s AI-driven risk assessment, almost immediately after surgery, enables more proactive decision-making, monitoring, and treatment. This is an improvement to reduce the impact and cost of post-surgery complications.
According to the startup, it reuses existing hospital data with machine learning to predict infections and other complications after surgery for each individual patient.
Andy Lürling, LUMO Labs founding partner, says, “Healthplus.ai moves beyond statistics and accurately predicts side effects and complications of medical treatments for individual patients. This sort of innovation improves healthcare in not just one, but in multiple ways. Healthplus.ai’s technology supports doctors and other medical staff in their treatment planning and decision-making. This will dramatically improve the quality of treatment and therefore the wellbeing of the patients affected.”
Currently, the startup is active in the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, and Norway, and has recently received a REACT EU grant of about €1M provided by EFRO.
Capital utilisation
The investment will help Healthplus.ai reduce the impact of post-operative infections on millions of people across the globe. Currently, the startup uses AI and existing electronic health record data to ‘accurately’ predict the risk of infection for patients. Ultimately, this will also be possible for other post-surgical complications.
The funds will also help finalise the design and build the first AI software for market release, perform several clinical trials, and submit CE 2a certification under MDR. “The safety and performance requirements for CE certification of a medical device are understandably high. The funding will help us bring the team, product and organisation to the next level,” adds Healthplus.ai CTO, Bart Steverink.
About LUMO Labs
Founded in 2016 by Andy Lurling and Sven Bakkes, LUMO Labs claims to create opportunities for impact-driven software and smart hardware startups. The current LUMO Fund II is a €20M impact-driven multi-stage capital fund (pre-seed up to and including Series A). It includes a two-year venture builder programme to support its portfolio companies in gaining financial success as well as social traction and impact.
The company backs startups that align with at least one of the three UN Sustainable Development Goals – Sustainable Cities & Communities, Good Health & Well-Being, and Quality Education. It invests in sectors including Artificial Intelligence/Data, Blockchain, Internet of Things, Robotics and Drones, and Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality.
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