The Czech Kardi AI, which uses artificial intelligence and a smart chest strap to detect heart arrhythmias, has successfully closed a new €1.1M investment. The startup appoints a new CEO, Vlastimil Hrabal, who has served as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) over the past year.
👯 Founders: Tomáš Skála, Stephen Burke, Pavel Digaňa, David Skala
📅 Founding year: 2022
🏭 Industry: AI, HealthTech
💥 Problem: Traditional heart monitoring methods, like the 24-hour Holter monitor, only detect arrhythmias in about 5% of cases because the monitoring period is too short and arrhythmias often occur unpredictably.
📣 Solution: An AI-enhanced medical device to detect heart arrhythmias. Kardi AI combines real ECG measurements using a chest
strap with a smart app and its own AI models for ECG processing and evaluation.
👥 Customers: Patients with known or suspected arrhythmias, health systems in overloaded markets, hospitals and cardiologists.
🌱 Stage: Late Seed
💰 Investment amount: €1.1 million
🚀 Funded by: BrightCap Ventures, DEPO Ventures, Garage Angels, Lumus Investment Collective, Czech angel investor
💡 It will be spent on: Expansion into key international markets (Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania – first phase, UAE and India – second phase ) and the completion of certain clinical study.
💬 In their own words: “Kardi Ai has an exceptional, proven product that’s already helping save lives. Now it’s time to take this technology beyond the Czech Republic. We want to become the European leader in continuous heart monitoring. We believe this unique combination of data, clinical validity, and
simplicity can change the way we prevent cardiovascular disease,” says Vlastimil Hrabal, the new CEO of Kardi AI.
🔑 Business model: B2B SaaS
👩🏫 Market: Cardiovascular diseases have an estimated economic impact of €282Bn, representing 11% of total healthcare expenditure in the EU.
📊 Traction: Preparing a clinical trial at university hospitals in Olomouc and Ostrava and collaborates with over 20 hospitals and approximately 130 cardiologists across the country.
