Ikerian AG and its subsidiary, RetinAI U.S. Inc., a leading
developer of software solutions for medical image and data
management, and artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare,
announced today the successful close of its USD 6.18M (CHF 5.65M)
Series A Extension financing, with new and existing investors.
The final close was led by strategic investor
the Corporate Venture Capital arm of Topcon Healthcare, Inc. The
first close in 2023 added Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) as a new
investor alongside existing Seed and Series A venture firms, the
btov Industrial Technologies fund, managed by Matterwave Ventures,
Verve Ventures, and private investors.
As part of the financing, and to facilitate its
evolution and growth, the company has concluded its corporate
restructuring commenced in 2023, to spearhead development beyond
ophthalmology with RetinAI Medical AG rebranded as Ikerian AG, and
wholly-owned subsidiary RetinAI U.S. Inc. focused on the
ophthalmology market.
Dr. Carlos Ciller, Chairman and CEO of
Ikerian, and CEO of RetinAI said: “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 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.”
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. The company helps customers
evaluate real world outcomes in diverse patient populations driven
by AI insights on these biomarkers.
Dr. Sandro De Zanet, Chief Scientific
Officer at Ikerian and RetinAI said: “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 revolutionize 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.”
RetinAI has achieved notable successes to date. It has a
strategic collaboration with Retina Consultants of America (RCA),
and has collaborated with major pharma companies including
Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen (a J&J company) and Novartis. In
February 2024, it entered a new market, launching its RetinAI
Discovery® Clinics platform for ophthalmology and optometry clinics
across Europe, establishing a footprint of AI-driven workflows for
patient management. RetinAI Discovery® and the company’s AI models
have 5 approvals including achieving FDA 510(k) clearance for the
data management platform for clinical use and integration into
U.S.-based clinics and in the European Union.
This Series A Extension brings to USD 11.66M (CHF 10.66M) the
total equity raised including the Seed and Series A rounds. The
company has initiated its Series B financing to fund further growth
and development, including new opportunities to expand beyond
ophthalmology.
Dr. Carlos Ciller added: “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.”
For further information please contact:
At the companyCarlos Ciller, PhD, CEO - Ikerian
AG and RetinAI Inc US carlos@ikerian.com, carlos@retinai.com
Media enquiriesSue Charles, Charles Consultants
- sue@charles-consultants.com +44 (0)7968726585
About Ikerian AG www.ikerian.com and
RetinAI Inc. US www.retinai.com Established in 2017,
Ikerian AG (formerly RetinAI Medical AG) and its subsidiary,
RetinAI U.S. Inc. (‘Ikerian’, ‘RetinAI’ and, together, ‘the
company’), develops software solutions to accelerate clinical,
research and pharmaceutical workflows globally using advanced
machine learning and computer vision.
Focused on the ophthalmology and optometry market, RetinAI
builds tools to collect, organize and analyze health data from the
eyes, enabling healthcare professionals to make the right decisions
sooner in healthcare. RetinAI's international team leverages its
clinical, technical, and scientific expertise to foster the
transition from reactive to preventive medicine for severe eye
diseases.
A commercial stage company with growing sales from RetinAI
Discovery®, RetinAI has established collaborations and partnerships
with leading ophthalmology and pharmaceutical companies including
RetinAI Consultants of America (RCA), Boehringer Ingelheim, J&J
and Novartis.
Based in Bern, Switzerland and Boston, U.S.A., the company has
raised USD 11.66M (CHF10.66M) in equity finance from investors
including the Corporate Venture Capital arm of Topcon Healthcare,
Inc, the Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB), b2venture, Matterwave Ventures
and Verve Ventures.
Follow us on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/ikerian/about/ and Ikerian
https://www.linkedin.com/company/retinai/About RetinAI
Discovery®RetinAI Discovery®
(‘Discovery’) is a software platform to enable the right decisions
sooner based on evidence, AI-derived insights, automation &
data. Discovery is a modular and certified (FDA - 510(K) / CE -
MDR) medical image & data platform that digests data, works via
the web browser in the cloud, enables precision analysis with
proprietary AI models and transfer of medical data linked to the
patient, connecting devices, data sources & decisions in a
seamless and secure manner. Discovery is the workbench for
healthcare professionals throughout the entire journey of the
disease, facilitating decisions for better patient care.
About Topcon Healthcare, Inc.
https://topconhealthcare.com/ Topcon Healthcare is part of Topcon
Corporation (TSE 7732). Our vision is to improve access and quality
of healthcare while decreasing the overall cost. To achieve this
mission, we have established Harmony, a platform to accelerate the
evolution of AI-powered algorithms that enable the detection of
systemic, neurological, and ophthalmic disease markers even before
discernable symptoms are present. Topcon Healthcare is investing in
innovators focused on healthcare transformation with an emphasis on
AI-powered digital healthcare from the eye. This approach helps
doctors to prevent disease and, when needed, to treat at the
earliest disease state for better, less costly outcomes.
A truly global business, Topcon Corporation is focused on
developing solutions to solve societal challenges in the
mega-domains of healthcare, agriculture, and infrastructure. In
healthcare, these challenges include increasing eye disease, rising
medical costs, physician shortages, and unequal access to
healthcare. By investing in value-driven innovations, Topcon
Corporation works to help people enjoy good health and a better
quality of life.
Follow us on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/topcon-healthcare/
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