HONG KONG, July 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- iFlytek, the
largest publicly-listed AI technology company in the Asia-Pacific region has further advanced its
healthcare initiative by leading the Pre-A round investment into
Cyrcadia Asia, a company developing a smart wearable bra insert
that provides accurate early breast cancer detection.
While iFlytek is already a recognised a leader in speech
technologies, it has made recent advances in AI applications for
healthcare. In November 2017, the
company grabbed attention when its "Xiaoyi" AI-powered robot
successfully aced the national medical exam, the qualifying test
for doctors in China, with 456
points, 96 points above the pass mark. iFlytek Health has now
deployed its AI capability in over 50 hospitals in its native
Anhui Province, China, to provide support to general
practitioners in diagnosis and treatment, and in interpreting
medical images including breast imaging. iFlytek Health, its
healthcare division established in 2016, is headed by CEO Dr Tao
Xiaodong, a veteran technologist of Philips and GE Healthcare who
brings a wealth of expertise in medical imaging and computer-aided
diagnostics. Dr Tao also joins the board of Cyrcadia Asia.
Cyrcadia closes its Pre-A round with a total raise of
US$3.8 million. Following iFlytek's
lead in the round were a number of other Asian investment funds and
private investors. The Pre-A funding enables Cyrcadia to complete
product development and launch into Hong
Kong and other Asian markets in late 2018. Cyrcadia's device
is a revolutionary sensor patch worn under a women's bra which,
with two hours of monthly wear, allows women to monitor their
breast health from an app on their mobile phone. The technology
uses cloud-based AI to monitor for circadian metabolic changes that
are proven to correlate to the onset of cancer. The technology has
particular advantages in Asia,
where screening participation is low, cancer incidence rates are
increasing, and where the majority of the female population have
dense breast tissue, for which traditional imaging technologies are
less accurate.
Cyrcadia's launch in Asia makes
use of over 10 years of research, extensive trials in the US and an
existing US FDA 510k clearance. The
product development has been backed by Nypro, the specialist
medical device division of global manufacturing services company
Jabil (NYSE: JBL) and production is scheduled to start at Nypro's
Shanghai facility in summer of
2018.
Commenting on the deal, Tao Xiaodong said: "We are excited to
play a leading role in the development and launch of Cyrcadia's
technology. iFlytek is already harnessing the power of AI in
healthcare, but Cyrcadia's technology, by using metabolic change to
detect disease, can leapfrog many of the current drawbacks of
imaging and human interpretation. We are also excited by the
promise of Cyrcadia's technology as a consumer wearable device,
providing real-time monitoring for women at their own convenience.
As Cyrcadia's user base grows, it has the potential to be the
world's largest data base of breast health and breast cancer
incidence, and we hope in the near future we can make a major
contribution to research, prevention and treatment of the
disease."
Rob Royea, CEO and Chairman of
Cyrcadia Asia, said: "We are delighted to have iFlytek backing us
as both an investor and as a strategic partner at the cutting edge
of AI and healthcare. Cyrcadia's technology will empower women to
monitor their breast health with more comfort and convenience than
the current screening methods, and will likely save lives through
detecting cancers at an earlier stage, when they can be much more
easily treated, often without chemotherapy. The partnership with
iFlytek opens numerous avenues for deployment of cloud-based AI
applications for improved breast cancer diagnosis for all
clinicians."
In addition to the investment, iFlytek and Cyrcadia Asia will be
exploring how to integrate Cyrcadia's technology into iFlytek's
healthcare offering in China.
Cyrcadia Asia will be pursuing Series A fundraising in the third
quarter of 2018 to fund its further expansion outside of its launch
markets.
About iFlytek
Established in 1999, iFLYTEK has been dedicated to the research
of speech intelligence and exploring the most natural form of
human-machine interaction. iFLYTEK was listed in the Shenzhen Stock
Exchange in 2008 (stock code: 002230). iFLYTEK's intelligent speech
and artificial intelligence technologies, such as speech synthesis,
speech recognition, speech evaluation, and natural language
processing, represent the top level in the world.
iFLYTEK has occupied more than 70% of Chinese speech industry
market share. It has launched the world's first "iFLYTEK Open
Platform", which provides intelligent speech interaction capability
for mobile Internet industry (By the end of May 2018, there are more than 850 thousand
project partners and more than 1.9 billion end-users, promoting the
application of intelligent speech and artificial intelligence
technology into education, mobile phones, automotive, appliance and
other industries, serving millions of households). Meanwhile
iFLYTEK applies AI abilities and speech intelligence into lifestyle
scenarios like mobile IFLY Smart Input APP, Easy Trans Smart
Translator, Smart home speaker Dingdong and etc. For more
information, visit http://iflytek.com/en/index.html
About Cyrcadia Asia
Established in Hong Kong in
2017, Cyrcadia Asia operates under a strategic license and
cooperation agreement with Cyrcadia Inc of the US to exclusively
manufacture and commercialize the Cyrcadia solution for
distribution in markets in Asia.
The patent-protected technology draws on years of AI research and
250 patient trials that have proven a high correlation, measured
against actual pathology, between disruption in circadian metabolic
rhythms and the onset of tissue-invasive breast cancer. Cyrcadia's
technology has been the subject of numerous accolades and press
articles, including two Cannes Lions awards for innovation and
women's empowerment, a Clio award, as well as a documentary movie,
"Detected", produced by Ironbound Films and available on Amazon
Prime. For more information, see www.cyrcadia.asia.
Media Contact:
Rob Royea
+852 9406 9112
rroyea@cyrcadia.asia