Sequoia India’s Surge Backs Health Tech Startup RedBrick AI in $4.6M Funding

Healthtech startup RedBrick AI has raised $4.6 million in a funding round led by Sequoia India and Surge in Southeast Asia as it plans to expand the market for its annotation solution medical imaging.

Artificial intelligence has become ubiquitous in clinical diagnosis. But researchers need a lot of their upfront time to prepare data for training AI systems. The training process also requires hundreds of annotated medical images and thousands of hours of clinician annotation. The Delaware-based SaaS startup, which has an Indian subsidiary in Pune, solves this problem with its automated and semi-automated annotation tools.

RedBrick AI co-founder and CEO Shivam Sharma says the startup makes annotations up to 60% faster with its configurable workflow system that works with medical images such as CT scans. , X-rays, MRIs and ultrasounds.

“We see ourselves building the foundational layer of artificial intelligence in healthcare. Going forward, we want to help teams with everything from data preparation to FDA approval of algorithms,” said Sharma in an interview with TechCrunch.

Founded in 2021 by former SpaceX Hyperloop engineers Sharma and Derek Lukacs (who serves as CTO), RedBrick AI offers specialized annotation tools accessible through a web browser and integrated into customers’ existing data storage system, such as AWS, Google Cloud Platform and Azure. To annotate complex 3D medical images, it also has semi-automated tools.

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RedBrick AI further provides APIs that machine learning engineers can integrate with their cloud solutions and clinical data stores, including hospital enterprise PACS servers.

“Clinicians just need to log into their browser, and the workflow aspect is fully automated,” Sharma said.

Once properly annotated, the images can be used for faster and more detailed diagnosis. Annotated imagery can also be used by surgical robots and to automate cancer detection.

RedBrick AI has a seven-member team that is primarily based in India, although the startup is primarily focused on the US and Europe to bring its tools to market. The startup also sees 99% of the competition coming from open source tools, followed by those developed in-house by companies to meet their specific needs.

RedBrick AI’s first customer base includes German biotech startup Orbem, Canadian cancer and disease screening platform Prenuvo, Boston-based nonprofit hospital and physician network Mass General Brigham, and AI platform of Deeptek radiology of Maharashtra.

The all-stock round also saw participation from Y Combinator and angel investors. Prior to this round, the startup was named among Y Combinator’s 2022 winter cohort which was dominated by 32 Indian startups.

Sharma said RedBrick AI plans to use the fund to go beyond its current customer base and reach out to enterprises. It also plans to hire new engineers to expand the specialized toolset.