Breast Cancer Research Foundation launches $100M venture fund with radiologist startup scoring 1st investment
The Breast Cancer Research Foundation is launching a new $100 million venture fund, with its first investment going toward a radiologist’s startup company.
BCRF Ventures is a philanthropy program aimed at accelerating access to promising innovations in radiology and other specialties. It kicks off with $23 million in seed donations, including an $11 million gift from philanthropists Karen and Rob Hale, with plans to raise much more in the next five years.
BCRF’s first venture funding is going to Clairity Inc., according to a news announcement shared Sept. 22. Founded by breast imaging expert Connie Lehman, MD, PhD, in 2020, the company’s flagship platform, Clairity Breast, uses AI to analyze routine mammograms and predict a woman’s five-year risk of developing cancer.
“Thanks to BCRF Ventures, Clairity shows what becomes possible when promising science has the resources to move rapidly from discovery to real world impact,” Lehman, a Harvard professor of radiology and CEO of Clairity, said in a statement Tuesday. “Now, we’re able to accelerate our innovations to improve the lives of women around the world.”
BCRF notes that the AI product can help to expand equitable access to earlier care. Last year, Clairity Breast became the first AI-powered breast cancer risk prediction platform to receive FDA De Novo Authorization. This year, it also was included in national guidelines for best practices in breast cancer risk assessment.
The new venture program plans to further invest in early stage companies developing new approaches to breast cancer detection, diagnosis and treatment. It hopes to target a “persistent funding gap” that often causes innovations in science to stall before reaching clinical development. BCRF expects to build a portfolio aligned with its mission, targeting 20 to 30 companies that span diagnostic, targeted therapies, immune-oncology and other emerging tech.
Financial returns generated from the program will be reinvested in future companies, “creating an evergreen source of capital” for breast cancer research.
“With traditional funding models experiencing major shifts that threaten to upend critical research, a bold new vision is a necessity to move research forward,” Karen Hale, co-chair of the BCRF board of directors and a lead funder of BCRF Ventures, said in the announcement. “And when it comes to bold, when it comes to vision, when it comes to innovation—the Breast Cancer Research Foundation has proven, time and again, its ability to deliver returns on investment that are measured in lives saved.”
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.