Subtle Medical is expected to exceed a billion CNY in global revenue in 2024.
AI medical imaging company Subtle Medical has recently completed a nearly ten million USD Series B+ financing round. The round was jointly invested by existing shareholders Fusion Fund, new shareholders including ENVISIONX Capital, Bluerun Ventures, Shanghai Wenzhou Investment, and other strategic cooperation partners in the Asia-Pacific region. This round of financing will be used to accelerate the global commercial deployment and innovative research and development of AI products.
Since its establishment in 2017, Subtle Medical has raised over 50 million USD in total financing. Utilizing AI and generative models, the company has developed AI products covering various imaging modalities such as MRI, PET, CT, SPECT, and interventional angiography, aiming to enhance the quality and efficiency of medical imaging, reduce the dosage of contrast agents required for medical imaging, and strengthen safety and lesion detection capabilities.
The commercial exploration of Subtle Medical dates back to when it secured A-round financing in 2020. Following this, the company established a dedicated sales team and explored the issue of who would pay and continue to pay for the commercial deployment of AI. According to Subtle Medical Inc., the company has seen a doubling of its business volume for three consecutive years and is projected to exceed one billion CNY in global revenue in 2024, gradually moving towards profitability.
Currently, its business model mainly consists of three aspects: deploying AI solutions in hospitals and imaging testing centers in China, the United States, Europe, and other regions; collaborating with pharmaceutical manufacturers to enhance the safety, accuracy, and imaging capabilities of pharmaceutical products through deep learning technology; and partnering with medical imaging equipment manufacturers to improve equipment performance with AI.
In terms of the expansion of AI medical imaging products and platforms, Subtle Medical has completed clinical deployment in nearly two hundred hospitals, imaging centers, and physical examination centers in China, primarily through localized deployment, providing AI imaging enhancement services while ensuring data does not leave the hospital. In the United States, the company has established cooperation with over three hundred medical institutions, hospitals, and third-party imaging centers, mainly adopting a SaaS business model with continuous hospital payment, per-case payment, and group subscription. In Europe, it has also expanded to several important partners, achieving further commercial deployment in countries such as France, Germany, and Spain.
In addition to providing AI solutions and building AI medical imaging platforms for hospitals and medical imaging testing institutions, Subtle Medical also collaborates with leading global pharmaceutical manufacturers to apply proprietary deep learning technology to enhance the effects of imaging agents. The company also cooperates with top imaging equipment manufacturers both domestically and internationally to further improve equipment performance with AI. It drives the AI upgrade in the field of medical imaging in a comprehensive manner across the service, pharmaceutical, and equipment sectors.
Among its products, SupGAD and SupBoost can address the issue of heavy metal gadolinium deposition during MRI testing. SupGAD, which applies artificial intelligence technology, requires only 10% of the contrast agent dosage to achieve the same enhanced imaging effect. Products like SupSynth enhance the quality and efficiency of medical imaging through AI generation technology and multi-modal, multi-contrast data. Platforms such as SupQC for quality control and intelligent assessment and process analysis have also recently been approved by the FDA.
After several years of development, as of July 2023, China has approved 70 AI medical imaging products with Class III medical device certification from the National Medical Products Administration. The progress of commercial deployment and profitability is a test for participants in this emerging industry. In recent years, many medical imaging products have focused on overseas markets for the commercial expansion of AI products. Subtle Medical, which has its roots in Silicon Valley and has been developing the Chinese and American markets simultaneously from the start, has a certain first-mover advantage. With the wave of generative AI technology, AI medical imaging is expected to achieve higher efficiency and quality in diagnosis and more comprehensive clinical solutions.