Proscia to expand its artificial intelligence software line

This image shows Proscia’s image workflow platform of a dermatopathology case. The heatmap colors correspond to the probability of the tissue being nodular basal cell carcinoma. (Photos courtesy of Proscia Inc.)

Dr. David West

Proscia Inc., a digital technology company specializing in the development of artificial intelligence applications and software for digital pathology, recently secured $8.3 million in an initial round of financing. The funds will allow the company to develop and commercialize applications aimed at “high-volume, high-impact cancers” along with boosting sales of its existing cloud-based digital pathology platform, according to a company news release.

The platform will be used for the launch of DermAI in December 2018, providing artificial intelligence- enabled and disease-specific applications.

“Pathology has been historically underserved by technology, and we believe that powerful software tools will push the boundaries of how modern pathology is practiced,” David West, Proscia CEO, said in the statement. “That’s why this funding is so important. It will allow us to expand the adoption of digital pathology, while creating intelligent systems that will unlock data from tissue to greatly enhance pathologists’ productivity, increase access to care, and improve the way cancer is researched and, ultimately treated.”

This platform, already used by 300 medical and research facilities worldwide, is designed to integrate with various lab environments, can reduce turnaround times and cut costs, and may allow users to take advantage of imaging and analytics revenue streams.

Flybridge Capital Partners, Emerald Development Managers, Fusion Fund, Razor’s Edge Ventures, RobinHood Ventures and SoGal Ventures were the venture capital firms providing Proscia the Series A funding.