A British health technology company which uses AI to conduct skin cancer tests within five minutes has landed £15m in a funding round led by a leading global financier.
Sky News has learnt that Skin Analytics, whose derm device has been shown to diagnose the disease with a 99.9% accuracy rate, will this week announce the closing of its series B fundraising.
Skin Analytics, whose partnership with London’s Chelsea and Westminster Hospital was branded a world first, plans to use its injection of capital to broaden its capability across the spectrum of dermatological concerns.
The funding round has been led by Intrepid Growth Partners, an AI-focused growth investor founded by Mark Machin, a former Goldman Sachs partner who more recently was chief executive of CPPIB, the giant Canadian pension fund.
Intrepid was also jointly founded by Mark Shulgan, a former executive at OMERS, another Canadian pension fund, and Ajay Agrawal, an expert on the economics of AI at the University of Toronto.
Skin Analytics describes its mission as “building a future where nobody dies of skin cancer”.
DERM is said to be the world’s first legally authorised AI medical device which can make clinical decisions on skin cancer without being reviewed by a doctor.
Skin Analytics believes it can help tackle a bottleneck in the diagnosis of skin cancers, with an average of just 30 dermatologists per 1 million people in Europe.
Its AI medical device has been deployed at 26 NHS sites, with DERM able to autonomously discharge up to 40% of urgent suspected skin cancer referrals.
The company claims that NHS trusts across England which have deployed DERM have reduced unnecessary face-to-face dermatology appointments by up to 95%, easing pressure on NHS resources.
Neil Daly, founder and CEO of Skin Analytics, said: “AI allows us to move from a world of specialist scarcity to one where we have the capacity to see everyone who is concerned about their skin.
“Starting with skin cancer, this funding allows us to work with our partners to build new models of care that everyone can access, whenever they want to”
Founded in 2012, Skin Analytics says it has seen more than 150,000 NHS patients and detected more than 14,000 cancers.
Mr Machin said Skin Analytics was an example of a company which reflected Intrepid’s
Focus on “transformative machine intelligence-driven solutions that address critical challenges”.
“Their technology is redefining early skin cancer detection, improving patient outcomes while reducing healthcare costs.
“We are excited to support their growth as they scale their impact globally.”
