Investing – The Health Care Blog

Five Radiology Artificial Intelligence Companies That Somebody Should Build and Invest In

Dec 5, 2017• 3

By HUGH HARVEY

I’ve previously written comprehensively on where to invest in Radiology AI, and how to beat the hype curve precipice the field is entering. For those that haven’t read my previous blog, my one line summary is essentially this:

“Choose companies with a narrow focus on clinically valid use cases with large data sets, who are engaged with regulations and haven’t over-hyped themselves …”

The problem is… hardly any investment opportunities in Radiology AI like this actually exist, especially in the UK. I thought it’s about time I wrote down my ideas for what I’d actually build (if I had the funding), or what companies I would advise VC’s to invest in (if they existed).

Surprisingly, none of the companies actually interpret medical images – I’ll explain why at the end!

Tales From the Accelerator

Oct 10, 2014• 1

By LISA SUENNEN

I hate to give away all the punch lines from my California Healthcare Foundation report on healthcare accelerators, so you will just have to read it for yourself. However, a few extra tidbits that didn’t make it in are here below (as you can imagine, I can’t be quite as Lisa-ish in a commissioned report as in my blog). Among my many discussions with a myriad of willing report interviewees (thanks to all of you!), I started collecting some funny stories that I have begun to refer to as Tales from the Accelerator Crypt. A few of them are here below for your amusement.

From an East Coast Economic Development-Focused Accelerator: By far the worst idea pitched to us was from a company that proposed to prevent falls among the elderly with a vest containing an airbag whose deployment is triggered by EEG signals coming from a wearable computer brain interface. It’s probably obvious why this is so insane. Getting beyond who might actually wear such a thing around their home or to bed, can you imagine the number of erroneous deployments from the notoriously unpredictable, noisy EEG signal? If only they had made a video. That same week in the same city, I was amazed to be introduced to a rival company also developing a wearable airbag for accidental falls, but at least this one was triggered by an accelerometer. File under “You know wearables have jumped the shark when…”

From a University Program in CA: The most awful pitch we had was from a clinician-entrepreneur whose answer to every probing question on commercial viability was “This is going to save countless lives.” It was his answer to every question, clinical to operational to financial. The most entertaining stage moment, however, was when a CEO of a company developing a ‘next generation’ needle-free injector did a live demonstration of his product by injecting himself with saline while up on stage doing his pitch. He unbuttoned his shirt, gave himself the shot and buttoned up again, claiming how painless it was. As he continued to speak, blood pooled and spread from the injection site, down his arm and across his entire white shirt. It was a slow motion disaster. He didn’t recover very well. Needless to say they didn’t win the demo day competition.