Swedish Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) software company Corsmed has secured $3.5 million in Seed funding, bringing the total investment in the company to $10 million. 

According to the 2023 NHS Diagnostic Waiting Times and Activity Data Report, the proportion of UK patients waiting six weeks or more for an MRI scan consistently remained above 25 per cent, far higher than the operational standard NHS aim of 1 per cent.

Further, despite being one of the safest imaging methods that provide rich, detailed health insights, MRI has been prohibitively expensive and time-consuming to deploy at the scale needed for truly preventive healthcare.

Since 2019, Corsmed has been developing innovative digital twin technologies that dramatically reduce MRI scan times from 45 minutes to just 2-3 minutes. 

This latest funding round will see Corsmed bring its fast MRI scanning technology out of stealth and put into clinical use. 

New AI-accelerated software solutions from incumbent players tend to deliver 20-40 per cent faster scans; Corsmed’s software can generate several high-resolution full 3D brain contrasts in three minutes, ten times faster than the current clinical norm.

Moreover, unlike traditional, qualitative MRIs that rely on subjective interpretation by radiologists, Corsmed’s software produces quantitative MRI scans, with each pixel representing measurable data that can be compared across different patients and timeframes.

By reducing the cost and time of advanced medical imaging, Corsmed turns high-precision health tracking from an expensive privilege into an accessible healthcare tool for the broader population.

Erik Jacobsson, CEO of Corsmed, comments:

“Until we can make MRI regularly accessible for everyone, we’ll continue to see preventable mortality pile up. We currently live in a sick-care, rather than a healthcare system.

 Corsmed aims to change this. Imagine a world where routine, whole-body quantitative scans can detect cancer and other life-threatening diseases at their earliest stages, giving everyone a fair shot at a long and healthy life. This is the future we’re building toward.”

The round was co-led by Luminar Ventures and Big Pi Ventures, with participation from previous investors.

Magnus Bergman, co-founding Partner at Luminar Ventures, commented:

“To democratise MRI scans is a cornerstone in the creation of preventive healthcare. We estimate that Corsmed can save tens of thousands of lives per day by enabling the detection of life-threatening conditions 10x cheaper than today.”

Corsmed currently offers a true-to-life MRI simulator used by acclaimed cancer hospitals and research institutions such as The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, CNI College, and Gurnick Academy to train, upskill, and assess students and medical staff. So far, more than 80,000 hours of real MRI scanner time has been run on the Corsmed simulator, saving institutions precious time on real scanners that cost an average of $1,325 to run for less than an hour.

According to Noyal Mathew, MRI Practice Educator and Clinical Simulations Facilitator at the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Corsmed has elevated the standard of the MRI training programs at UCLH, ensuring that both staff and patients benefit from a safer, more effective imaging process: 

“By providing staff with hands-on, simulator-based training, they gain a deeper understanding of MRI protocols and techniques, reducing errors and enhancing their confidence before they work directly with patients.”

According to Guy Drabble, Clinical Scientist at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust MR Physics Group, Corsmed has made it much easier to teach MR radiographers the challenging concepts of MR physics by guiding them through the effect of imaging parameter changes in real-time in a relaxed environment without clinical pressures. 

The company plans to file for submission with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and ensure the software is Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant.

Lead image: Erik Jacobsson, CEO of Corsmed. Photo: uncredited.