HeartLab, the New Zealand medtech company, has raised $3.5 million in a funding round led by US tech billionaire Peter Thiel's Founders Fund.
The company said the capital raise will help to get its artificial intelligence (AI) heart scanning tech into the US market in early 2022.
The oversubscribed funding round also saw investment from Icehouse Ventures, Outset Ventures, and chief executive of design company Figma, Dylan Field.
HeartLab's 21-year-old founder Will Hewitt established the company three years ago as an automated platform to analyse ultrasound images to save medical professionals time and produce patient reports.
“We set out to design what cardiology looks like in the future, and the response from early trials shows this future is needed right now,” Hewitt said.
“Feedback from cardiologists has been super positive.”
HeartLab’s tech is currently being trialled by cardiologists and sonographers at four NZ locations. The company said it is seeking FDA approval by the first quarter of 2022 so it can bring on US customers.
“The HeartLab team has built a really compelling AI-powered platform that doctors love to use,” Founders Fund partner Scott Nolan said.
“We’re impressed with the progress they’ve made since we first backed HeartLab a year ago, and we are excited to continue to support them throughout this next phase of growth.”
