Cleerly, a US-based developer of machine learning algorithms for heart disease detection, received $43m yesterday in a series B round featuring Cigna Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of healthcare services provider Cigna.
The round was led by venture capital firm Vensana Capital and included LRVHealth, New Leaf Venture Partners, DigiTx Partners and American College of Cardiology along with undisclosed existing investors.
Founded in 2017, Cleerly uses proprietary artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to extract and integrate data from computerised tomography (CT) imaging to support clinical diagnosis, prognostication and the prevention of heart attacks.
The company’s core product, Cleerly Coronary, is capable of quantifying and characterising the presence, extent, severity and type of plaque build-up in addition to coronary artery disease and other cardiovascular disorders.
Cleerly will use the capital to expand its commercial reach, operational capabilities and strategic partnerships, in addition to funding research and development.
Tom Richards, Cigna’s global lead, strategy and business development, said: “We are proud to be the partner of choice for companies like Cleerly, which share our commitment in breaking boundaries and accelerating innovation to unlock bold, new opportunities that create better health for the people we serve.
“With these digital health partnerships and through our end-to-end care approach, we see significant opportunity to accelerate innovation in cardiovascular disease while improving patient experience, reducing costs and improving outcomes.”
Justin Klein of Vensana Capital, Tripp Peake of LRVHealth and Vijay Lathi of New Leaf Venture Partners are joining Cleerly’s board of directors in conjunction with the round, which the company said increased its total funding to $54m. It has not revealed details of earlier financing.