Radiology artificial intelligence firm Harrison.ai raises $112M, opens US office
Australia-based radiology artificial intelligence firm Harrison.ai has raised $112 million (USD) in capital with plans to open a new office in the U.S.
Aussie retirement fund Aware Super led the Series C round alongside Summit, New Jersey, private equity firm ECP (Energy Capital Partners) and others. Founded in 2018, Harrison.ai offers Annalise Enterprise CXR, which leaders believe is the most comprehensive decision aid for X-ray reading, able to identify up to 124 findings.
More than 1,000 healthcare facilities worldwide now use its solutions—including 50% of Australian radiologists—with its technology impacting 6 million patients annually.
“Harrison.ai’s ability to harness the rapidly evolving opportunities out of digitization and AI is remarkable, and we look forward to supporting their long-term application to the healthcare sector,” Alvin Chan, portfolio manager at Super Aware, said in a statement shared Feb. 11.
Leaders plan to use the money to accelerate expansion in the U.S., opening an office in Boston, along with continued growth in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia. Harrison.ai has raised $240 million across three funding rounds, with Series C contributors also including Horizons Ventures, a Hong Kong VC firm, Australia’s National Reconstruction Fund Corp., and the Wollemi Capital Group, of Sydney. Those involved believe this is one of the largest capital raised in medical AI over the past year.
Harrison.ai partnered with the private equity-backed, Australia-based I-MED Radiology group in 2020 to help create its imaging Annalise.AI solution. Along with radiography, the vendor offers software for analyzing CT scans and pathology slides. Harrison.ai’s products helped radiologists produce a 45% increase in diagnostic accuracy, according to a 2021 study published in the Lancet. The company also has helped increase the proportion of cancer cases detected at treatable stages by more than 26%.
To date, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared 12 solutions from Harrison.ai. One of its brain CT algorithms also earned FDA Breakthrough Device Designation and Medicare reimbursement through the New Technology Add-on Payment. Brothers Dimitry and Aengus Tran, MD, who migrated to Australia from Vietnam, co-founded the company. Dimitry Tran, MBA, was inspired to create Harrison.ai after suffering a stomach ulcer at age 12 and witnessing his family and community struggle to access treatment. He has stated a desire to “make good diagnostic care as affordable as water.”
“Harrison.ai meets this need by developing clinical-grade AI models designed to improve capacity,” CEO Aengus Tran said in the announcement. “We look forward to bringing our life-saving technology to healthcare systems in the U.S. and continuing our expansion across the globe.”
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.