A UK healthtech startup which has built AI-powered tech that it says reduces the test time for a lung disease that impacts nearly two million people in the UK from an hour to five minutes has raised $19m in a funding round.
Called TidalSense, the startup is looking to transform respiratory diagnosis, starting with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).
COPD is a chronic lung disease affecting nearly two million people in the UK. The disease, which causes breathing difficulties, is the UK's third biggest cause of death, killing around 30,000 people a year and costing the NHS £1.9 billion annually.
The funding round in the startup includes investment from new investor Cross-Border Impact Ventures, the Canadian healthtech impact fund, and returning investors BGF, Airstream Capital and Foresight Group. In total, TidalSense, founded in 2013, has raised $40m, including $11m of grant funding.
It says it will use the funding to speed up the rollout of the test across the NHS, where it launched last year, and across Europe, as well as look to enter the US market.
