Spanish medtech startup QUIBIM scores €8 million for AI platform that detects diseases, including COVID-19

Spanish medtech startup QUIBIM, developer of an AI-powered radiology diagnostics platform, has raised €8 million to continue expanding its algorithms, including chest X-ray and CT scan products for detecting COVID-19. The seed funding round was co-led by Amadeus Capital Partners and Adara Ventures, with participation from Apex Ventures, Partech, Crista Galli Ventures and existing shareholders such as Tech Transfer UPV.

QUIBIM Precision, the startup’s proprietary platform, extracts and quantifies disease-specific biomarkers from medical images. The team has launched more than 20 algorithms for a range of conditions including cancer, Alzheimer’s, osteoarthritis and liver disease — used in over 70 hospitals and 11 clinical trials around the world.

“QUIBIM’s rapid adoption is an indicator of how innovative doctors and researchers are eager to have access to and exploit AI technology and methods that can automatically recognise complex patterns in imaging data, to get quantitative assessments and improve the service they provide,” said Rocio Pillado, partner at Adara Ventures.

As for what’s ahead, thanks to the new investment, founder and CEO Dr. Angel Alberich-Bayarri explained: “Our new investors will open opportunities for us in new markets and help us to strengthen our brand internationally. We will be able to promote our new prostate, musculoskeletal and oncology solutions and increase sales globally, by expanding our workforce over the coming year.”

Founding the startup as a spin-off of La Fe Health Research Institute in Valencia, Dr. Alberich-Bayarri and Professor Luis Marti-Bonmati were working in medical imaging and the development of biomarkers when the European Society of Radiology adopted their process as official industry standard in 2013.