Optellum scores £1 million in funding from Luminous Ventures to tackle lung cancer diagnosis with AI

July 16, 2019

Oxford-based Optellum, which offers AI software for early lung cancer diagnosis and treatment, has just raised £1 million from Luminous Ventures, as part of a seed follow-on round of £3.25 million.
Optellum’s software is said to be the first predictive machine learning solution applied to lung cancer, which is the most common form of cancer. It’s also the deadliest; Vaclav Potesil, co-founder and CEO of Optellum refers to it as “the world’s No. 1 cancer death sentence” with a 15 percent survival rate past the five years mark, mostly due to late-stage diagnosis.
When applied to CT scans, Optellum’s software platform should enable doctors to diagnose, treat, and cure patients at the earliest stages of the disease, thus increasing the survival rate significantly.  Hopefully it will also aid in minimising over-diagnosis and help reduce unnecessary costly and invasive procedures.
London-based Luminous Ventures’ investment is part of a round that also includes IQ Capital, St. John’s College, Oxford and the family office of Sir Martin & Lady Audrey Wood.
You can read the original article here