Bern, Switzerland-based Ikerian AG and its subsidiary, RetinAI U.S. Inc, a developer of software solutions to accelerate healthcare workflows, announced on Wednesday that it has closed $6.18M (approximately €5.7M) in a Series A extension funding round.
The round was led by the Corporate Venture Capital arm of Topcon Healthcare, Inc. Existing investors, including Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB), the btov Industrial Technologies fund, managed by Matterwave Ventures, Verve Ventures, and private investors, also participated in the round.
The latest Series A Extension round brings the company’s total equity raised, including the Seed and Series A rounds to $11..66M (approximately €10.8M).
Additionally, the company has initiated its Series B financing to fund further growth and development, including new opportunities to expand beyond ophthalmology.
Corporate restructuring and rebranding
To support its growth and development, the company has undergone a corporate restructuring that began in 2023.
As part of this financing, the company has rebranded RetinAI Medical AG as Ikerian AG and created a wholly-owned subsidiary called RetinAI U.S. Inc.
According to the company, this restructuring will enable the company to expand beyond ophthalmology, with RetinAI U.S. Inc. focused on the ophthalmology market.
Fund utilisation
The company plans to use the funds to further develop and commercially introduce RetinAI Discovery in ophthalmology and optometry, as well as expand Ikerian’s reach into new therapeutic areas.
These new areas will prioritise neurodegenerative disorders, vascular conditions, and rare diseases.
Dr. Carlos Ciller, Chairman and CEO of Ikerian, and CEO of RetinAI, says, “The successful closing of this financing confirms the importance of our AI technology to re-invent workflows for clinical and pharmaceutical research to support more efficient and effective patient care. These funds will allow us to expedite the development efforts of our RetinAI Discovery® platform and our pipeline of AI technologies, and to collaborate with Topcon Healthcare and the industry to advance AI in ophthalmology and beyond.”
RetinAI Discovery: What it is?
RetinAI Discovery is an advanced software platform designed to provide accurate and timely insights based on evidence, automation, AI-derived insights, and data.
The platform is modular and certified by FDA (510(K)) and CE (MDR), it is capable of processing medical images and data, working through a web browser in the cloud, and providing precision analysis with proprietary AI models.
The platform enables the transfer of medical data linked to the patient, connecting devices, data sources, and decisions securely.
Dr. Carlos Ciller adds, “I am proud of the achievements RetinAI has made and look forward to this next stage of growth. Ikerian will use the ‘eye as a window to the body’ to advance healthcare in systemic and chronic diseases, such as neurological and cardiovascular conditions, generating new knowledge and playing an instrumental role in improving healthcare for individuals worldwide.”
Ikerian AG: Supercharging clinical trials
Founded in 2017, Ikerian AG and its subsidiary, RetinAI U.S. Inc., develop software solutions to accelerate clinical, research, and pharmaceutical workflows using advanced machine learning and computer vision
Focused on the ophthalmology and optometry market, RetinAI builds tools to collect, organise and analyse health data from the eyes, enabling healthcare professionals to make the right decisions sooner in healthcare.
A commercial-stage ophthalmology company, with growing revenues, RetinAI continues to advance its product offerings for pharma, life sciences companies, and ophthalmology and optometry clinics.
The company is expanding its Real-World Evidence (RWE) database across eye diseases, including Geographic Atrophy (GA), Neovascular Age-related Macular Degeneration (nAMD), and Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), where eye biomarkers play a role in diagnosis and disease monitoring.
In February 2024, the company entered a new market, launching its RetinAI Discovery Clinics platform for ophthalmology and optometry clinics across Europe
Additionally, the company has formed collaborations and partnerships with leading ophthalmology and pharmaceutical companies, including RetinAI Consultants of America (RCA), Boehringer Ingelheim, J&J, and Novartis.
Dr. Sandro De Zanet, Chief Scientific Officer at Ikerian and RetinAI, says, “Having a portfolio of RWE insights allows RetinAI to deliver even greater value to pharma by accelerating clinical studies and enriching AI-based data analysis to support future treatments. In addition, generative AI technology is helping us revolutionise analysis and patient screening for clinical studies. The Discovery tool and AI biomarkers that we have developed will simplify analysis across vast imaging datasets needed to successfully complete a clinical trial.”
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