SoftBank Ventures Asia (SBVA), the wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank Group, has anchored the $23 million Series A funding round in ImpriMed, a US-based precision medicine startup focused on leveraging artificial intelligence to improve cancer treatment.
The round was also backed by HRZ Han River Partners, SK Telecom, KDB Silicon Valley, Ignite Innovation Fund, Samyang Chemical Group, Murex Partners, and Byucksan, according to the announcement.
The funding will enable ImpriMed to expand its revolutionary drug response prediction technology beyond veterinary medicine into human oncology, increase headcount, and broaden its business development and research and development pipeline.
The only precision medicine company using AI and comprehensive analysis of canine and feline cancer cells to make personalized drug response predictions, ImpriMed is delivering real-world results at scale.
To date, more than 250 veterinary hospitals in more than 40 states have deployed ImpriMed’s technology, with more than 15,000 canine and feline blood cancer tests completed.
The company is challenging the status quo for treatment in animal cancer patients, building and validating its AI models for clinical outcomes, and enabling veterinary professionals to deliver more successful results.
Moving forward, ImpriMed aims to address the overall cancer precision medicine space, which is estimated to reach $100.5 billion by the end of 2028. Its work will arm hospitals with drug treatment response predictions, ensure stronger prognosis evaluations, and more effectively stratify treatment risks.
ImpriMed, which was co-founded in 2017 by Sungwon Lim, CEO, and Jamin Koo, CTO—both distinguished alumni of Stanford University and KAIST (The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology)—specialized in utilizing artificial intelligence to enhance the efficacy of personalized cancer treatments.
Its AI algorithms are used in combination with a patient’s live cancer cell analytics, the results of which are far more accurate predictions of how a specific patient will respond to a particular cancer therapy before administration.
The company’s multiple myeloma prognosis and drug response prediction software is an innovative medical device already recognized by the Korea Food and Drug Administration and is targeted for commercialization in the United States in 2025.
AsiaTechDesk.com