Digital Health Startup Altoida Raises $6.3M Series A

Please login or
register
31.05.2019
Tablet senior

Altoida announced a $6.3 million round of venture capital financing to bring its medical device and brain health data platform to patients, physicians and researchers around the globe. The startup detects Alzheimer's Disease (AD) 6-10 years prior to onset of Mild Cognitive Impairment symptoms due to AD - with up to 94% accuracy using Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Augmented Reality.

Altoida's product analyzes visuospatial and executive function during complex activities of daily living through a battery of three tests that ask patients to hide and seek virtual objects in a physical space. The company has validated its platform and methodology in more than 12 peer-reviewed journal publications and in more than 200 independent studies. It is currently being used in clinics across the US, Europe and Brazil.

The new capital will be used to further expand Altoida's global presence with an immediate focus on commercialization activities in the US and EU markets. The Series A round was led by M Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of the science and technology company Merck KGaA with participation from Grey Sky Venture Partners, VI Partners AG, Alpana Ventures, and FYRFLY Venture Partners.

"Altoida is at the forefront of a new era to leverage Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to assess brain health," said Alexander Hoffmann, Principal, New Businesses at M Ventures. "Our investment reflects our belief that digital biomarkers are the future and might lead to earlier diagnosis, and potentially better supportive care for a wide range of brain diseases. Altoida promises to deepen our understanding of brain health and contribute with positive impact on medicine and society."

Altoida's digital biomarkers harness advances in technology to detect brain changes early in the disease process, helping to accelerate early diagnosis for better clinical outcomes. Using an iPad or a Tablet accelerometer, gyroscope and touch screen sensors, Altoida is able to detect "micro-errors" as both a prognostic and diagnostic digital biomarker. The result is that medical professionals are able to detect Alzheimer's disease in patients 62+ years old between six and ten years prior to the onset of symptoms - and before irreversible damage occurs.

"While we know that early detection of Alzheimer's is the key and leads to better outcomes, only 16% of seniors today receive regular assessments in the US, and this situation becomes more critical as we look at other geographic regions," said Dr. Richard Fischer, Founder & CEO at Altoida. "Today's diagnostic methods are either outdated, costly and invasive, or highly nuanced. We are taking aim at this acute problem with a fast, fun, accurate and scalable AI-driven solution that collects digital biomarkers to predict the onset of Alzheimer's as early as ten years before symptoms appear - we like to call them 'micro errors'. Our software or app is designed to be used by a wide range of healthcare professionals, from primary care physicians (GP's) to neurologists to insurance companies, in order to make early detection accessible to more people around the world with the goal of significantly delaying the onset of MCI due to AD - and resulting in an overall cost reduction."

Collected over the last 12 years, Altoida also offers its comprehensive digital biomarker dataset to researchers and major pharmaceutical companies who want to leverage pre-symptomatic data to enhance both treatment and drug R&D. Today, the company is working on two joint research collaborations with large pharmaceutical companies in both the United States and Japan.

(Press release)

0Comments

More news about

Altoida AG

Company profiles on startup.ch

Altoida AG

rss