Medimaps Group Secures $20 Million In an Institutional Investment Round

Medimaps Group, a Swiss/Global med-tech company specializing in image processing software for the assessment of bone health, has secured $20 million in an institutional investment round led by Swisscanto Invest by Zürcher Kantonalbank, alongside Swiss Entrepreneurs Fund, Swisscom Ventures, and Verve Ventures.
 
The funds raised will be used to expand its product portfolio with the development and market launch of its patented AI applications for bone health assessment in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Latin America. The company’s current flagship product, Trabecular Bone Score (TBS iNsight), has received medical reimbursement in the U.S. beginning January 1, 2022.
 
There is an osteoporotic fracture every three seconds. The estimated cost of these fractures per year in the United States is $52 billion and $57 billion in Europe, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation and the International Osteoporosis Foundation respectively, and these costs are expected to grow exponentially with the aging population. 
 
This phenomenon is largely a result of the fact that 75% of high-risk patients are not being diagnosed, nor screened, in a timely manner. Of the patients receiving a bone mineral density (BMD) assessment, roughly 40% are incompletely diagnosed, because BMD can only measure quantity of bone, not quality of bone. 
 
Medimaps Group’s TBS iNsight provides deep tech bone texture analysis related to bone micro-architecture to assess bone quality, enabling clinicians to identify patients sooner and classify their fracture risk, thus improving patient management and reducing the cost of care. It has been shown that 30% of osteopenic patients are reclassified with TBS. Their technology utilizes already acquired images and therefore does not expose the patient to additional radiation and it integrates seamlessly into the workflow. 
 
“We are delighted, alongside our investment partners, to lead the investment in Medimaps,” said Dr. Robert Schier, investment director PE/VC, Swisscanto Invest. “We were very impressed with their level of clinical validation and medical acceptance worldwide. Medimaps is positioned well to lead the way for innovative solutions for bone health assessment and advancing AI analytics in medical imaging. Their technology can make a real difference in medical practices and ultimately improve patient’s lives. And now with reimbursement in the U.S., Medimaps’ solutions will be widely available.”
 
Medimaps’ proprietary and patented technology is empowered by deep learning multi-layer approach. This technology is applied to a wide spectrum of image modalities and resolution thereby providing solutions ranging from opportunistic X-ray based screening, to patient risk profiling, and to presurgical assessment. 
 
“This is a great moment for clinicians and their patients,” said Prof Didier Hans, CEO Medimaps. “We are dedicated to the vision of improving bone health assessment to help patients before it’s too late. Our passion is to improve patient care and to empower doctor decisions by developing innovative simple solutions to complex medical needs for the benefit of healthy aging.”