Radiology AI vendor Quibim raises $50M in Series A financing round

Valencia, Spain-based radiology artificial intelligence vendor Quibim has raised $50 million in financing as the company seeks to beef up its presence in the U.S. and elsewhere. 

Venture capital firm Asabys Partners co-led the Series A funding round alongside fellow Spain-headquartered investment group Buenavista Equity Partners. Co-founded by radiologist Luis Martí-Bonmatí, MD, PhD, in 2015, Quibim offers a suite of products to aid in interpreting MRI, CT, and PET scans. 

The company now boasts over 170 installations worldwide and in 2023 scored a partnership to install the AI firm’s prostate cancer solution in Philips MRI scanners. 

“Quibim’s technology exemplifies the next wave of precision medicine,” José Mesa, Buenavista's representative on the company’s board, said in a statement shared Jan. 28. “Their impressive track record with global pharmaceutical partnerships, including…with companies such as Merck KGaA and Philips, exemplify Quibim’s role in transforming imaging data into valuable predictions for clinical trials and treatment planning.” 

Quibim said it has seen “remarkable” recent growth, with the quarterly number of patient images it analyzes jumping 168% compared to the previous three-month period. The company is focused on developing foundational AI models to extract insights from medical images. Findings help to characterize patient traits and predict outcomes across specialties such as oncology, immunology and neurology. Quibim’s flagship product is QP-Prostate, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration-cleared algorithm for aiding cancer detection. Other offerings focus on neurological concerns (QP-Brain, also FDA cleared) and diagnosing hepatic diseases by quantifying tissue fat and iron levels (QP-Liver, not yet cleared in the States).

Leaders said they’ll use the funds to strengthen Quibim’s U.S. presence and built on success in Europe by collaborating with hospitals and pharma firms. Along with aiding physicians, the company’s solutions help drugmakers to enhance clinical trials and accelerate product development with “precise, actionable insights derived from imaging biomarkers.” 

Other new Quibim contributors include UI Investissements, and GoHub Ventures. They’re joined by previous investors Amadeus Capital Partners, Apex Ventures, Partech, Adara Ventures and Leadwind. Individuals also pitched in, among them, Tony Fadell, a former Apple executive who co-invented the iPhone, and Jonathan Milner, PhD, scientist and founder of biotechnology firm Abcam. 

“Quibim’s mission is to turn imaging into a catalyst for precision health, and we are deeply grateful to both our new and current investors for their support,” CEO Ángel Alberich-Bayarri, PhD, a biomedical engineer who co-founded the company alongside Martí-Bonmatí, said in a statement. “Our global expansion into the U.S. is a critical milestone as we work with pharmaceutical leaders and healthcare providers to unlock the power of imaging to revolutionize diagnostics and improve patient outcomes.”

Marty Stempniak

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. 

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