BrainNow Secures Tens of Million in Series A Funding, Opening the Gate of Intelligent Diagnosis of Brain Diseases

On April 4, 2019, Bo Brain Medical Technology Co., Ltd. (BrainNow), a breakthrough growing enterprise in the field of neuron medical imaging has announced the completion of tens of millions of Series A Financing led by Sangel Capital. As well as additional financing from existing angel investor Purple Bull Startups. With its outstanding medical background, leading algorithms and medico engineering team, the company has provided mature solutions for accurate analysis and diagnosis of brain diseases based on brain image.

BrainNow is an innovative company dedicated to the field of neuron medical imaging. The core business is to develop and popularize cloud computing tools that are suitable for clinical applications based on advanced computer medical image analysis technology for the auxiliary diagnosis of neurological diseases. Intelligent identification and analysis of neuron images provide objective evidence for early screening and differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases and improve the accuracy and efficiency of clinical diagnosis and treatment.

For neuropsychiatric diseases, how to make scientific and accurate clinical diagnosis has become a difficult problem for many doctors. As a result of the complex classification of brain diseases, the current clinical diagnosis is still highly dependent on clinical symptoms and doctors’ experience. Therefore, the diagnostic accuracy is seriously low.

Although many imaging technologies have been widely used in the diagnosis of brain diseases, the key information of structural MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) images obtained in traditional clinical diagnosis still depends on doctors' subjective inspection and professional knowledge of those two-dimensional images. Since the repeatability cannot be guaranteed, the delay or mismatch of treatment plan caused by a misdiagnosis of brain diseases often causes unnecessary pain and financial burden to the patients.

The team of BrainNow is deeply aware of the serious problem. Based on more than 10 years of experience in medical engineering cooperation and innovative research results in the fields of brain image segmentation and analysis. The AccuBrain image quantitative analysis tool was developed to meet the needs of clinical disease diagnosis, which can quickly, accurately and reliably measure the three-dimensional volume of hundreds of major brain tissues and lesions.

So far, BrainNow has established overseas research and development centers in Hong Kong and Europe and cooperates with more than 100 hospitals at all levels. Its self-developed Image-assisted diagnostic tool-AccuBrain is a cloud base platform for assisted diagnosis in neurology, and it has been successful in implementing. With those funds, BrainNow will promote the development and commercial use of its new products. 

According to the founder of the company, after the introduction of AccuBrain into the medical institutions, it meets the needs of various departments including neurosurgery, psychiatry, imaging, geriatrics, physical examination and more. These institutions realized the early analysis and diagnosis of the diseases through quantification. This system greatly improved the diagnostic accuracy, reduced the burden on doctors and patients, and provided efficient tools for the implementation of hierarchical diagnosis and treatment in China.

The managing partner of Sangel Capital Dr. He Nanxing, believes Brainnow is an AI diagnostic platform for central nervous system diseases, which can provide objective and repeatable evidence for clinical diagnosis conforming to the principle of evidence-based medicine. It is a multi-win innovative product that can benefit patients as well as the medical system. The company takes the lead in the domestic “treatment + AI” track.

The founding partner of Purple Bull Funds Zhang Quanling, said: "Most companies are looking for the condition for the application of AI technology, BrainNow started from the actual needs of clinical departments directly. They constructed a complete medical chain connecting screening, auxiliary diagnosis, and prognosis with sufficient evidence, which has won the support and recognition of the industry. The company is one of the few startups on AI+ medical image that can really achieve the commercialization.

Shenzhen Sangel Venture Capital Co., Ltd. is a Venture Capital investment firm established in 2010 in Shengzhen. Sangle Capital provides venture capital and business finance to support high-tech enterprises in China and other countries. The company seeks to invest in emerging innovative enterprises that include: biomedicine, medical devices, healthcare, and biotech.

Sangel Capital has set Sage-Angel incubator and Sangel funds have been managing more than 50 projects. In July 2015, the company established its first international subsidiary—Sangel Venture Capital Corp. (US) in Chicago. In 2019, Sangel Venture Capital Co., Ltd. won the "China Outstanding Venture Capital Institution in Next Generation Award".

Purple Bull Startups was established in 2015. It was founded by the original CCTV host and reporter Quanliang Zhang, Cheetah Mobile CEO Sheng Fu and a number of Internet t. Till this day, the company has managed two RMB funds.

Purple Bull Funds mainly focuses on early venture projects about education, consumption, and healthcare, including knowledge payment, STEM education, e-commerce, innovative medical devices, and advanced biotechnology. The company invested in Seed stage to Round A.