Czech medtech startup Kardi AI has raised €5.3 million in a Series A round led by German healthtech fund Callisto Health. According to the company, this is the largest round a Czech medtech startup has raised to date.
Česká spořitelna and Slovenská sporiteľňa joined through their corporate venture programmes, both operating under the Seed Starter name. Earlier backers BrightCap Ventures, Purple Ventures, DEPO Ventures and Garage Angels also put in money. After the round, Kardi AI is valued at €23 million. The company plans to use the funding to enter new markets in Europe and Asia and to develop models that estimate the risk of cardiac arrhythmias.
“We are gradually moving beyond detecting heart rhythm disorders towards technology capable of identifying an increased risk before arrhythmia manifests. Nearly two billion people live in the markets where we already operate or are preparing to launch,”
— says Vlastimil Hrabal, co-founder and CEO of Kardi AI.
A chest strap, an app and AI analysis
Kardi AI’s product is a fitness chest strap with a built-in ECG sensor that connects to a mobile app, where AI analyses the recordings. People wear it during their normal day, see the results themselves and can pass them on to their doctor when needed. Monitoring over longer periods makes it possible to catch intermittent arrhythmias, which often go unnoticed during a short check-up at a clinic. The system does not make a diagnosis, and the company positions it as a source of data that helps physicians decide on further care.
The startup was founded in Olomouc in 2022 by cardiologist Prof. Tomáš Skála, entrepreneur Stephen Burke, technologist Pavel Digaňa and product designer David Skála. Hrabal joined the founding team later as CEO.
In the Czech Republic, Kardi AI works with more than 70 hospitals and over 20 corporate and employee-benefit partners, and more than 6,000 people use its technology.
The company entered Slovakia a few months ago, mostly through a local distributor. It now works with more than 20 physicians there, most of them cardiologists, including at Bory Hospital and the Corfil cardiology clinic. Besides hospitals and clinics, Kardi AI sells through its own e-shop, Alza and the online pharmacy Moja Lekáreň.
In May 2026, Kardi AI became the first Czech startup to win Best HealthTech Startup at the global final of the Global Startup Awards.
Germany next, then India, the UAE and Southeast Asia
Kardi AI already operates in Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. Its main European target now is Germany, where it has completed pilot projects and is preparing to launch.
In July 2026, the company received an MD-15 import licence from India’s regulator CDSCO, covering both its hardware and software. The Indian launch will start in Hyderabad, where Kardi AI is in talks with healthcare partners and finalising its commercial and logistics setup. Operations there are planned to begin in the last quarter of 2026.
In the United Arab Emirates, Kardi AI holds a Medical Device Registration Certificate from the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) and has presented its product during a Czech business mission to Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Expansion into the UAE is part of the company’s wider growth plans for the Middle East. It is also finishing medical device approval in Singapore, which it plans to use as an entry point to Southeast Asia, with the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam among the next markets on its list.
“The new capital will allow us to validate this technology at global scale and across patient demographics and pursue our ambition to become a leading provider of long-term ECG monitoring in these markets,” Hrabal says.
What the investors say
Dr. Stefan Eckhardt of Callisto Health says the team has built a certified medical product that is easy to use, and points out that it is already used in real-world settings in CEE.
Česká spořitelna has offered Kardi AI to its own staff as an employee benefit since 2024. “We are investing in a solution we have already validated internally, at a time when the company has achieved MDR certification and is preparing for its next growth phase,” says Tomáš Milota, CEO of Seed Starter at Česká spořitelna.
For Slovenská sporiteľňa’s Seed Starter, Kardi AI is the first healthtech investment.
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