Father-son scan startup Maui Imaging balloons fundraising to $40M
Maui Imaging, a father-son startup focused on ultrasound technology, has ballooned its fundraising to $40 million, leaders announced on Wednesday.
Founded in 2006 by Don and Dave Specht, the Arizona company’s computed “echo tomography” product uses sound waves to cross through body barriers for “rapid and effective imaging.” Traditional ultrasound cannot image through the skull without a significant fracture or surgically removing bone. However, Maui Imaging says its product can address this challenge, with impediments such as gas, fat and implants becoming part of the image, rather than obstacles.
The results look like a “cross between ultrasound and CT,” without the need for ionizing radiation. Scans also create a “significantly larger data set,” which can be sliced into additional images and used for artificial intelligence, the company noted.
Maui recently completed a $14 million Series D funding round led by Acertara Acoustic Laboratories. It plans to use the money to support production, sales and marketing of its technology. The company previously exited “stealth mode” last August and announced it had secured a $4 million contract with the Department of Defense.
"With this support and our work with the U.S. military we are able to address the clear need for a new ultrasound-based technology to image all types of tissues," CEO and Co-founder David Specht said in a statement July 29. "That need is most pronounced in trauma medicine, which is a major focus for us."
Maui Imaging said Acertara will serve as exclusive distributor of the technology to hospitals outside of those it already assists directly. The company’s device previously received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance in October 2023.
CEO Dave Specht and his father, Don, who died in 2019, first founded the company in a Silicon Valley garage nearly 20 years ago. Don Specht was an early employee at one of the first medical ultrasound companies and later spent two decades as a senior scientist at Lockheed Martin working on telescopes, according to the company’s website.
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.