LONDON – One of the first UK companies to successfully introduce a real-world Artificial Intelligence service for radiology patients has revealed that almost half of its investment funding is coming from healthcare professionals.
GPs, radiologists, oncologists, pharmacists and others have flocked to support Behold.ai, which is already delivering its algorithm-based ‘instant triage’ service at Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust in Kent.
The UK’s start-up experience is different from most AI healthcare operations which tend to rely on large venture capital or private equity outfits in getting them up and running in the early years.
Simon Rasalingham, CEO and Chairman, says that nearly 50% of the company’s funding comes from individuals with a clinical background, accounting for almost £1 million of investment. He believes the presence of this type of investor profile is not only good for AI companies in the UK but also for the future of the NHS.
“These are not big, institutional investors piling into a fledgling overseas AI product which is still in the lab and which may or may not come to fruition. Our technology is working right now in British hospitals with real-world clinical accuracy of 90%.
“Our individual investors are based in the UK, Ireland, Canada and the United States. They work at the sharp end of healthcare, they have their feet on the ground and they want to be a part of something happening now that will improve the lives of patients”.
Apart from its use in Kent, Behold.ai’s ground-breaking software is also currently live in two other NHS Trusts and more integrations are being rolled out at hospitals across the UK.
Mr Rasalingham pointed out that the recent call from Tech Nation for scalable, homegrown AI companies would also help to protect the NHS from data asset-stripping by global technology giants.
“All the data that is processed by our algorithm resides safely and securely in the UK. We are a homegrown AI company. Our investors get that. They know that Google has completed a take-over of the health division of DeepMind and other global giants are circling. NHS personnel are not sure of what the implications are for patient data.
“AI funding is racing ahead in this country with UK start-ups raising almost double the amount of their counterparts in France, Germany and the rest of Europe. That is partly because AI expertise in the UK is world-class but also because we are notably easier to work with.
“Our companies are smaller and lighter on their feet, highly-reliable and are trusted on issues such as data integrity and quality standards. We offer a platform for individual investors to get an early stake in technology that will transform healthcare globally”.
He compared Behold’s investor profile with that of four other AI radiology companies based in San Francisco and Israel, who have raised $150 million of institutional funding between them in recent years.
Mr Rasalingham also commented that these four companies are “all funded through venture capital or private equity funds who are looking for short term returns. But, Behold are ahead of that curve and patients are already benefiting from our ability to quickly identify anomalies in radiographs.
“Yes, our individual investors are ‘minnows’ compared to the corporate investors. But they are much bigger fish in our world and they are swimming in real water”.
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Further information from Grainne Moynihan on +44 7882 597719 Email: grainne@behold.ai
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Behold.ai is headquartered in London and has corporate and research facilities in New York and India.
The company uses cutting-edge science to pioneer new forms of diagnostic medicine; this innovative approach to healthcare is a step change in the treatment and prevention of diseases, delivering benefits today to patients across the globe.
Behold.ai provides artificial intelligence, through its red dot® cognitive computing platform, to radiology departments. Behold.ai’s technology augments the expertise of radiologists to enable them to report with greater clinical accuracy, faster and more safely than they could before. This revolutionary combination helps to deliver greater performance in radiology reporting at a fraction of the price of outsourced reporting.
Earlier this year, the company was awarded ISO 13485 QMS – the ‘gold standard’ in quality certification.