PIUR IMAGING secures €4.9 million in Series A financing

AI-driven tomographic 3D ultrasound solutions.

PIUR IMAGING, a medical technology company enabling access to affordable, high-quality healthcare through AI-driven 3D tomographic ultrasound solutions, today announced the closing of its €4.9 million Series A funding round. The round was led by Ascend Capital Partners, an EU Healthtech VC. Aescuvest, a renowned healthcare investment firm based in Munich, Germany, invested as a new shareholder.

PIUR's ultrasound solution PIUR tUS Infinity ("Infinity") is the only vendor-independent 3D tomographic ultrasound solution on the market. Infinity can add a tomography function to any regular ultrasound system, enabling volume imaging of organs and structures. It can acquire large examination areas in high-resolution 3D volumes and provide clinical applications for semi-automated data analysis. The separation of image acquisition and image analysis enables AI-based image analysis and asynchronous remote diagnosis, making ultrasound examinations less operator-dependent and more efficient.

PIUR will invest the latest round of funding in research and development, marketing and sales, and partnerships. PIUR plans to launch a major software update and a second-generation sensor to significantly improve the product's usability and performance. PIUR will also expand its team and user base, grow its current focus markets of Germany, Italy, Spain and France, and target initial sales in the United States. Already, PIUR has several distribution partnerships in the pipeline with leading nuclear medicine and ultrasound companies.

"Ultrasound is one of the most important diagnostic imaging tools for vascular, thyroid, abdominal and cardiac diseases. It is cost-effective, has no side effects and is well suited for imaging soft tissues and blood vessels," explains Frederik Bender, CEO of PIUR IMAGING. "However, as a real-time 2D imaging technique, ultrasound is dependent on the skill and experience of the physician to obtain an accurate diagnosis based on a series of 2D images of three-dimensional organs and structures. Depending on the disease, there are large inter- and intra-observer differences, and existing solutions cannot calculate accurate volume measurements, only estimates."

"With tUS Infinity, PIUR IMAGING is providing an integration of software into newly built hardware from established instrument manufacturers. We see clear advantages in this type of add-on technology, as ultrasound technology is accepted and understood worldwide. Therefore, PIUR's solution is easy to explain and users can immediately see the benefits," said Sebastian Gührs, Partner & Head of Investment at Aescuvest.

"This makes PIUR very interesting from an investor's point of view: the product meets market demand. The company has also already built up a significant customer base in the DACH region, signed distribution and cooperation agreements with renowned names in the ultrasound field, and the management team has a clear vision of the regions in which it wants to develop the business," Gührs concluded.

Currently, PIUR is planning its expansion into the U.S., where approval is expected by the end of the year. In addition, the company is targeting extensive collaboration with a leading pharmaceutical company and a leading ultrasound company in the coming months.