Altris AI, a Chicago-based AI platform for eye care professionals combat blindness, has landed $1 million in funding. The investment round was led by Runa Capital (that backed Chattermill recently) and Joint Journey, Pharmaceutical Company Farmak, Artesian, Brinc Limited, University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Chicago Booth Angels also participated in the round.
Scaleup plans
Altris AI will use the investment to scale its AI-powered eye pathology diagnostics solution.
“We are convinced that blindness can be prevented since it’s predictable. Our core motivation is to develop the most accurate and powerful tool we are able to. We are happy to have the support of a group of VCs that share our values of applying technology for global healthcare,” said Andrey Kuropyatnyk, Founder and CEO of Altris AI.
“Healthcare is one of the most attractive applications for AI. With recent advances in machine learning, the vast volumes of data gathered in this industry will power the solutions that will assist medical professionals everyday. Arming doctors and clinicians with reliable and abundant diagnostics is the first step towards conquering a $58 billion global market,” said Michael Fanfant, Palo Alto-based General Partner at Runa Capital.
AI diagnostics tool for optometrists
Originally from Ukraine and headquartered in Chicago, the company is building solutions for the $58 billion global ophthalmology market. Over 1 billion people with preventable blindness conditions, such as glaucoma, late AMD and others struggle due to poor access to proper diagnostics and treatment.
However, there is a shortage of optometrists worldwide as there are 331,000 available professionals while 14 million are needed to address the issues faced by people, claims the estimates by the World Economic Forum.
AI can assist optometrists to be more efficient due to the technology’s ability to identify, localise, and quantify pathologies and pathological signs in almost every disease of the macula and retina. This is where Altris AI has developed a SaaS platform based on 5 million OCT scans that detected and interpreted over 100 pathologies and pathological signs, including age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and choroidal nevus.
Altris AI provides an AI-powered medical image management platform, which is installed in over 30 clinics. The company also has a free educational mobile app with over 11,000 active users among ophthalmologists and optometrists. It has partnered with global OCT distributors and equipment manufacturers such as Topcon Healthcare, Optopol, and Huvitz.
Background of Altris AI’s founders
Altris AI was founded by Maria Znamenska and Andrey Kuropyatnyk. Maria is a full-time ophthalmologist, a Ph.D. in Ophthalmology, and the owner of the ophthalmic clinic in Kyiv, Ukraine. Andrey has an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and he is an experienced IT Management consultant with solid experience in this area.
Currently, the team consists of 31 people comprising 93.6% from Ukraine. Only the Head of R&D is from Kazakhstan and the Head of Sales is from the UK. Also, 70% of the team are women and all the medical team who are responsible for the data preparation consists of women.
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