Envisionit Deep AI, a South African healthtech startup founded by Dr. Jaishree Naidoo, her husband Terence Naidu, and Andrei Migatchev, has secured a $1.65 million investment from New GX Ventures SA. The startup is using artificial intelligence (AI) to transform the way radiologists interpret imaging and make diagnoses, to reduce the burden on healthcare systems, particularly in Africa, where infrastructure and human resource investments are low. Envisionit Deep AI's suite of products includes the Radify AI platform, which provides speedy, accurate, quality, and affordable medical imaging diagnosis, and the startup has received approval from the South African Health Products Regulatory Association. The startup is seeking approval from the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency in a bid to go global. Envisionit Deep AI's on-site product can be integrated with X-ray machines to provide diagnosis and treatment at the point of care, making its platform accessible to peri-urban and rural regions. The startup began by building models for interpreting chest X-rays with the capacity to detect 25 different pathologies, including tuberculosis, breast cancer, and pneumonia. Its platform was also used to detect COVID pneumonia from chest X-rays in under 25 milliseconds during the pandemic.
Envisionit Deep AI's Radify AI platform has been beneficial, particularly during the COVID pandemic, as it enabled a 700-bed hospital in South Africa's Northern Cape province, which had only one radiologist, to detect COVID pneumonia from chest X-rays in under 25 milliseconds. The platform was also used in several ICUs to triage patients, especially during the pandemic's second peak. The startup recently rolled out a computer-assisted training model for medical practitioners keen on gaining radiology skills. Envisionit Deep AI aims to democratize access to diagnostic imaging, and its ultimate goal is to reduce the burden on the healthcare system, especially in Africa, where human resources are scarce in radiology. The startup is planning to introduce its solutions to South Africa's mining sector, where employees have a higher risk of getting tuberculosis. Envisionit Deep AI has trained its models using quality de-identified data drawn globally and from diverse ethnic groups, and its data can be reviewed by radiologists through a validation tool that enables them to provide feedback and improve the accuracy of the models.
Play audio
No comments