Iterative Scopes, a Massachusetts-based AI Health startup, raised $30 million in Series A funding to apply the potential of AI to gastroenterology.
The round was led by Obvious Ventures and counted with the participation of Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Breyer Capital, and Seae Ventures, as well as angel investors like Lee Shapiro, Zach Weinberg, and Nat Turner. The round brings the startup’s total funding to $43.5 million since its founding in 2017.
Lotus Mallbris, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President of Immunology Development at Eli Lilly, and Nan Li, Managing Director at Obvious Ventures, will be joining Iterative Scopes’ board of directors. Mallbris referred to the firm’s decision to invest in the startup by stating:
“Iterative Scopes has an interlocking portfolio of talented people, great ideas, solid results, promising alliances, and an advisory board of outstanding experts. We are confident that we will be able to use what is being built here to improve the efficiency of how we conduct clinical trials, which may allow much-needed medicines to get to our patients faster.”
The startup started as a spinout of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) aimed to use AI to identify the best treatment and course of action for patients suffering from gastrointestinal diseases. This application will allow physicians to make better decisions by using computer vision algorithms to improve their clinical workflow. Jonathan Ng, CEO & founder of Iterative Scopes, referred to this approach by saying:
“These technologies also have the potential for biopharmaceutical companies to solve some of the most vexing challenges of GI clinical trials. We believe that the most successful healthcare technologies will be able to connect the dots between patient, provider, payer, and pharma, and we are excited to be at the very forefront of this movement in gastroenterology,”
While AI technology has gained adoption in the health industry, gastroenterology has seen fewer benefits when compared to areas like oncology and infectious diseases. The AI health startup believes that AI can replace the clinical-intuition approach gastroenterology has used over the past centuries, revolutionizing the medical branch.
