Australian Health Tech Startup Harrison.
Medical imaging is crucial for the appropriate identification of serious illnesses such as cancer. However, manual interpretation of analyzes is an prolonged process. Health professionals are increasingly using tools fueled by AI for diagnostic purposes, as these technologies can be very effective in detecting and categorizing diseases.
A startup based in Sydney, Australia, Harrison.aihas built medical diagnostic software and services compatible with AI to analyze computed tomography, X -rays and pathology slides for radiologists and forensic doctors. On Tuesday, the startup said that it had raised $ 112 million, equivalent to 179 million AUD, in the financing of the C series, to evolve its international scope on the key markets, in particular the United States, the Emea and Asia-Pacific. He refused to comment on his assessment when asked.
Aware Super, ECP Asset Management and Horizons Ventures co-directed the financing tour with new investors, including the National Reconstruction Fund, Ord Minnett, Wollemi Capital Group and return investors such as Alpha JWC Ventures and Blackbird Ventures.
Harrison.a offers two different products: diagnostic software focused on radiology, called Annalize.aiand an offer focused on pathology, Franklin.a – Both with the essential objective of helping clinicians diagnose medical conditions more precisely and effectively. The startup believes that AI tools can help early detection of medical conditions, speed up treatment decisions and reduce waiting time for patients.
‘A second pair of eyes‘
“Radiology (X-rays, Tomodensitometry) and pathology (tissue biopsies) serve as critical diagnostic tools to confirm medical diagnostics,” said Dr. Aengus Tran, CEO and co-founder of Harrison.ai, in an exclusive interview With Techcrunch. “”[Harrison’s] Solutions also act as a second pair of eyes for radiologists and pathologists, improving the effectiveness of the workflow while reducing erroneous risks for cancer and other serious illnesses – ultimately improving patient results. »»
The startup wants its technology to help approach The world shortage of qualified clinicians And the sharp increase in demand for diagnosis which has an impact on developed and underdeveloped health systems.
Harrison.ai was founded in 2018 by the Dr Aengus Tran and Dimitry Tran brothers, who grew up in Vietnam before moving to Australia. Aengus, a doctor trained in Sydney, has experienced capacity constraints in diagnosis and treatment that have led to poor results for patients. Dimitry and Aengus have teamed up to create Harrison.ai, using their respective experience of health strategy and medical expertise / AI in order to stimulate the capacity of health care thanks to the automation of AA .
The last funding of the startup, which carries the total of Harrison. Round of series B (About 92.3 million dollars, in November 2021).
Since its B series, the startup has created Franklin.ai, its pathology solution; Although its first prostate biopsy product is in development and will be available in 2025, by Tran.
He began to monetize Annalise.ai in 2022-and has tripled annual contractual annual income in the past three consecutive years for the radiology offer, he added. Annalization.a is currently operational in more than 1,000 health establishments in various countries, supporting the treatment of more than 6 million patients per year.
The startup, which now has around 200 employees, has extended beyond Australia and now operates in 15 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, Germany, Spain , water, New Zealand, Singapore, India, Malaysia and Vietnam. He has a regulatory authorization for clinical use in 40 countries, including 12 FDA authorizations in the United States, and plans to set up a North American presence in Boston this year.
“We have a typical software income model – similar to many SaaS companies – which allows our customers to buy and deploy for use in clinical practice,” said Harrison.ai CEO.
Competition
There are a range of players in space, including tastes Aidoc,, Bright,, Rad ai And Zebra. But Tran maintains that he was able to distinguish himself from competitors because his chest X -ray product has obtained a regulatory clearance in 40 countries for the detection of up to 124 results, which, according to him, is approximately 4x what Rivals can do.
The startup also claims that research shows that Harrison AI for chest x -ray can help detect lung cancer earlier, potentially diagnosing more than 32% of cases 16 months earlier. (This information is based on a study by the Asian Institute for Distance Education in the health care provider Alfred Health in 2024.))
Likewise, its CT Brain product obtained a regulatory clearance for the detection of up to 130 results, once again, a number which is around 4x higher than that of competitors, according to Tran.
“This is made possible thanks to our access to large sets of data that have been refined by more than 250 specialized doctors, over 240,000 hours,” he said, adding that the startup will use some of the new funding Even to build even more AI automation in more diagnostic tests other than radiology and pathology.
Last year, the company launched Harrions.RAD.1, a specific visual language model that can answer visual questions open to radiological images, detect results and provide descriptions. This model, which is not available in trade – but is accessible to researchers, industry partners and regulators – the powers of startup products and surpasses other fundamental models, as well as radiology of radiology Standard led by human radiologists, according to society.