OurCrowd, a global leader in equity crowdfunding, today announced that it will invest $2.5 million (as part of a recently completed $7 million investment round) in Scopio Labs, a developer of an advanced digital microscopy and diagnostics platform. This is OurCrowd’s 23rd healthtech investment for a total of $80 million, making OurCrowd the world’s leading equity crowdfunding platform for healthcare investments. Scopio Labs will use the funding to expand its Tel Aviv-based team and hiring computer vision experts, physicists and software developers.
“We are excited by our latest investment in Scopio Labs, which is bringing about a revolution in digital microscopy,” shared OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved. “Scopio Labs joins our portfolio of 23 cutting edge disruptive healthcare technology companies, all of which impact positively the lives of millions of people and are transforming patient care.”
Scopio Labs, founded in 2015 by Itai Hayut and Erez Na’aman, develops next-generation digital microscopes, based on computational imaging breakthroughs, as well as a suite of dedicated image analysis tools. Their products enable dramatic clinical and research improvements in diverse areas such as cancer, hematology and cytology, while powering further innovation in areas such as academic research and drug discovery.
“We look forward to working with OurCrowd’s healthcare team and their thousands of investors,” indicated Scopio Labs Co-Founder and CEO Itai Hayut. “We hope to gain from OurCrowd’s growing network of committed partners around the globe to add significant value to our business and help us pioneer the next generation of digital microscopy applications.”
OurCrowd has now invested in 22 health companies to date and one fund. Partnering and co-investing with world leaders in medtech, digital health, biomed, consumer and enterprise software, OurCrowd’s portfolio companies are revolutionizing the health sciences through use of disruptive technology, utilizing machine learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics and big data analytics.
“It’s an exciting time, as innovations in healthtech are merging with developments in other disciplines,” explained Dor Skuler, CEO and Co-Founder of Intuition Robotics. “For instance, Intuition Robotics is using a mix of robotics, cognitive computing, gerontology, and industrial design to develop the social companion technology that’s behind our active ageing companion, ElliQ.”
In November 2016, OurCrowd launched Israel’s first exclusive digital health fund, OurCrowd Qure, in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University, dedicated to one of the fastest growing sectors in terms of funding and M&A activity.
“We are on a mission to teach computers to read and diagnose medical images. We see a world where each and every one of us, regardless of location or income, has access to fast, accurate, high quality care, at a fraction of the current cost,” averred Zebra Medical Vision Co-Founder and CEO Elad Benjamin, which was recently named one of the top 5 Artificial Intelligence Companies by Fast Company. “Our algorithms are available to medical staff in hospitals and end users that now can access insights from their scans without leaving their home.”
In other news, OurCrowd is co-organizing MIXiii Biomed 2017, the leading event in Israel’s life science industry, which brings together thousands of healthcare industry professionals from around the world to scope out Israeli and global biomed technologies. Taking place in Tel Aviv from May 23-25, 2017, the event will feature a number of OurCrowd senior professionals, as well as OurCrowd portfolio companies.
The OurCrowd community of almost 20,000 investors from over 112 countries has invested over $440M into 120 portfolio companies and funds. OurCrowd already has thirteen exits to date, two IPO’s and eleven acquisitions. Below please find brief details and links to OurCrowd’s healthtech companies.
Appendix: The 23 OurCrowd healthtech companies:
1. BrainQ Technologies – Non-invasive technology to treat a range of neurological pathologies. Their device, LearQ, uses proprietary algorithms to create tailored electromagnetic fields, which target patients’ impaired neural networks; thus repairing neural connectivity and enhancing natural rehabilitation.
2. Dario Health [NSDQ: DRIO] – Personalized, pocket-sized, all-in-one glucose meter coupled with a robust real time mobile app to manage diabetes quickly, efficiently and accurately.
3. Elminda – Mapping tool for visualizing neural activity to optimize management of brain disorders and injuries.
4. Global Kinetics – Wearable sensor and advanced analytics system for tracking movement disorder symptoms ─ such as Parkinson’s Disorder ─ to optimize treatment.
5. HIL Applied Medical – Proton-beam laser-based cancer therapy system that is radically cheaper and smaller than other proton-beam therapy solutions.
6. Intendu – First adaptive motion-interaction brain rehabilitation platform enabling at-home therapy.
7. Intuition Robotics – Active ageing robotic companion (named Elli-Q) that enables millions of older adults to connect seamlessly with family and friends, have easy and intuitive access to technology and engage in an active lifestyle.
8. KolGene – Advanced software platform that connects clinicians with a wide range of genetic labs worldwide.
9. MedAware – Big data analytics and machine learning that enables healthcare providers and pharmacy chains to identify and eliminate prescription errors.
10. Memic – Internal laparoscopic surgical robotic system that is controlled by the surgeon via a second set of larger arms outside the body.
11. MPIRICA Health Analytics – Provides patients and self-insured employers with a simple and trustworthy score of medical quality.
12. MST – Medical surgeries technology and robotic vision system for laparoscopic surgery.
13. PulmOne – Portable desktop lung-function testing technology.
14. ReWalk [NSDQ:RWLK] – Lightweight exoskeleton that enables those with spinal cord injuries to walk again.
15. Scopio – Reinventing the microscope; improving diagnostics.
16. Sight Diagnostics – Low-cost malaria and CBC diagnostics through computer vision that is both rapid and accurate.
17. Surgical Theater – Patient-specific 3D imaging, adapted from flight simulation technology, for planning and rehearsing complex surgical procedures.
18. Sweetch – Mobile-health app that accurately predicts personal diabetes risk and drives long-term behavioral change to prevent diabetes.
19. Syqe Medical – Metered-dose inhaler for medical cannabis that is precise, safe and easy to use.
20. The Trendlines Group [SGX: 42T] – Incubator that establishes, invests in and develops medtech and agtech early-stage companies.
21. UPnRIDE Robotics – All-terrain electric wheelchair that enables standing and stable mobility both indoors and outdoors.
22. Zebra Medical Vision – Provides humanity with automated, accurate and timely medical image diagnoses via a range of proprietary algorithms.
23. OurCrowd Qure – Israel’s first exclusive digital health fund.