CurveBeam AI, a medical imaging company backed by Brian Flannery, launches $15 million pre-IPO led by Bell Potter and Lodge Corporate

The capital raise has already received support from a number of investors, with Ilwella and Karst Peak, Mr Flannery’s family office, committed to supporting the capital raise.

Greg Brown, CEO of CurveBeam AI, will also invest an additional $1 million in the company.

Mr Brown became interested in the field of bone density and osteoporosis when a family member had an “unremarkable” fall in 2012 that resulted in a fracture.

“They were sent for a bone density test, which turned out well, but after seeing what I saw, I couldn’t leave it at that,” he said.

“I’ve been in diagnostics for 35 years, I know that [these tests] are far from perfect so I kept researching and that got me to the University of Melbourne where they questioned the physics of bone density.

“It made me want to find a better way to identify what we were dealing with…something was missed by the existing technology. I saw how much this was affecting the quality of life of family members and it motivated me to delve in and I found this world class research.”

Since the merger last month, the company has received breakthrough device designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, accelerating the regulatory approval process for its AI algorithms.

Karst Peak’s Hashan De Silva is optimistic about the potential of CurveBeam AI.

FDA approval is now expected in 2023 and the company already has reimbursement relationships with insurers in the US.

Hashan De Silva of Karst Peak Capital said the fund first invested in Straxcorp in September 2021 and was attracted to the business because of a clear need for more effective diagnosis of osteoporosis.

“Physicians involved in treating patients with osteoporosis see that DEXA scans miss the vast majority of patients who experience a major fragility fracture and are willing to embrace a more accurate test,” he said.

“We see the Strax micro-CT machine and diagnostic AI technology as bridging this gap with a strong collection of clinical data.

“We’re very supportive of the merger and effectively see it as a marriage between the razor and the razor blade. The razor is the image capture devices and the razor blade is the AI ​​diagnostic modules.”

Mr De Silva said the merger has de-risked the deal as revenue will now be generated from CurveBeam’s HiRise weight-bearing CT machine while the company’s AI algorithms are still being commercialized.

The combined company had revenues of $7.8 million for the fiscal year ended June 30. For fiscal 2023, it already has $5 million in committed orders and the company is forecasting revenue of $13.2 million.

“SaaS-based diagnostic modules sold on HiRise will provide surgeons with preoperative planning and bone health solutions that will generate high-margin recurring revenue for the company,” said Mr. De Silva.

“We anticipate SaaS revenue likely within a year of IPO, with significant blue skies… to redefine the osteoporosis diagnosis.”

CurveBeam has also entered into a global partnership agreement with New York Stock Exchange-listed medical technology giant Stryker Corporation – a $78.7 billion company – to co-promote and distribute its devices.

“This agreement has the potential to increase uptake and make weight-bearing CT the standard of care for lower extremity imaging. Each placement of HiRise is a strategic advantage for the company to introduce SaaS AI modules and build a database of images to further develop new modules,” said Mr. De Silva.