With 13 startups, healthcare is a hot vertical for AI applications in Romania. Backed by a product portfolio renowned for its complexity and accuracy, Timisoara-founded XVision announced raising €1M from a team of investors led by bValue from Poland and joined by GapMinder, RocaX, Cleverage, Growceanu, ResQMed, as well as Cristian Pop and Marek Dziubinski as angel investors. The funds will be used to hire new staff, consolidate their position in Western Europe, and target the US.
AI augmented radiology to make healthcare smarter
XVision was founded in 2018 with the mission to enhance healthcare services with the help of artificial intelligence. So far, the medical platform has targeted radiologists with products that use AI algorithms to analyze complex medical images.
The need stemmed from the increase in the number and complexity of medical images, as well as the difficulty in interpreting them with accuracy by trained radiologists.
After two years of research and testing, XVision launched two innovations: a software program for chest X-rays, and one for improved analysis of chest CT (computed tomography) scans.
Behind these innovations, there is a multidisciplinary team with competencies in software development, machine learning, and radiology, as well as business development and regulatory affairs. The founding team is formed of CEO Stefan Iarca, CTO Cristian Avramescu, Head of AI Bogdan Bercean, and Head of DevOps Andrei Tenescu.
A growth journey backed by numerous CEE investors
Back in 2019, XVision entered the Romanian accelerator program Techcelerator, which helped fund and consolidate XVision’s business processes, as well as expand the company through a pre-seed round from GapMinder. This was followed by a seed round in 2020 from GapMinder and RocaX to fuel the company’s growth.
Since then, the platform has been implemented in over 60 private hospitals across four European countries. In December 2021, XVision became the first AI software to be implemented by a chain of private clinics, Regina Maria, after a successful pilot program in Timisoara.
With the new round, the company has raised a total of €1.4M. Existing Romanian investors returned for a follow-up, while new investors jumped on the bandwagon, including three from Poland.
As a next step, the company will use the new funding to accelerate their access to Western Europe, develop new products, and improve existing ones. To that end, they will be hiring new staff with expertise in AI, software development, medical imaging, and business development. 2023 plans include a further expansion to the US.
“This round is extremely important from a strategic point of view. XVision is at a point where the product has proven its practicality, so it’s time to start expanding beyond Central and Eastern Europe, an area we are familiar with”, Stefan Iarca, Co-founder and CEO of XVision, announced.
