Oncoustics Secures $5.5 Million CAD to Help Spot Liver Disease Using AI

Oncoustics has raised about $5.5 million CAD ($4.3 million USD) in seed funding to disrupt liver care by facilitating easier early disease detection, diagnosis, and patient management.

The Toronto and San Francisco-based startup is developing a hardware-agnostic, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered software platform designed to turn existing ultrasound devices into more powerful and efficient point-of-care diagnostic tools for liver disease and other diseases “with high unmet clinical need.”

Led by a team of AI, radiology, and digital health experts, Oncoustics applies machine learning (ML) to the raw sound signal produced by these ultrasound devices, to turn it into meaningful clinical data—specifically, tissue acoustic evaluations that enable the startup to do tissue characterization and spot disease.

By doing this, Oncoustics hopes to provide clinicians and patients with a less invasive, more cost-effective alternative to traditional biopsies that can be provided beyond just the hospital at point-of-care. A biopsy is a medical test that involves extracting sample cells or tissues from a patient for examination in order to determine the presence or extent of a disease.

Oncoustics is an OBIO® member, and past BDSP™, CAAP® and EAHN ™ participant.