An Australian healthcare data startup has won backing from CSIRO.
Founded by two robotics engineers and a medical doctor in 2012, Australian startup Prospection announced earlier this year it had raised $10 million in its first external funding round, securing cash from CSIRO’s Innovation Fund, Main Sequence Ventures and Hong Kong-based Horizons Ventures.
The healthcare data company uses predictive analytics and machine learning to improve health outcomes, including increasing treatment rates for hepatitis C, HIV and cancer patients.
Based in Sydney but working with pharmaceutical companies and researchers across the Asia Pacific, Prospection’s clients include 15 of the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies.
Prospection CEO and co-founder Eric Chung met co-founder Ricky Chen on a university robotics team.
“When we were programming robots [in university] we were using artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to help robots recognise what a soccer ball looks like,” Chung said
“Now, we use AI to see if there is a prostate cancer patient, how can we get to them before they become really serious.”
The new funding will be used to expand Prospection’s reach in the Asia-Pacific, grow its analytics platforms into new therapy areas and develop its AI capabilities.
“At Prospection, delivering a real community benefit is at the core of everything we do,” Chung said.
“Ultimately, we want to help improve outcomes for patients through better insights and predictive analytics … We couldn’t have better partners backing us in the next stage of our growth.”
Prospection joins a growing list of technology startups funded through Main Sequence Ventures. Previous recipients include Quantum computing startup Q-Ctrl, ag-tech startup FluroSat, Adelaide-based satellite communication company Myriota, Queensland-based space company Gilmour Space Technologies and smart infrastructure company Emesent, who developed the Hovermap solution.
