Scopio raises $50M to take a deeper look into our blood cells

Scopio Labs has announced a $50M investment for its end-to-end hardware and software platform for digitizing, quantifying and analyzing hematology and other digital cytology samples. The Series C round included OurCrowd, Aurum Ventures, Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank Invest and Ilex Medical, with the participation of strategic investors operating in the field and existing investors.

Blood tests are among the most frequent medical procedures in the world, with billions conducted every year. However, one of the most common tests, the Peripheral Blood Smear review, is still predominantly conducted by a human looking at a sample under a microscope, classifying cells by type, counting them and hunting abnormalities that could mean cancer or other diseases. Even when snapshots of a few cells can be digitized, the images are removed from its full context, forcing investigators to keep the slide and microscope on hand.

“Deep Learning can analyze hundreds of times more healthcare data from a patient, supporting physician decisions and detecting conditions like cancers, anemias, and bleeding disorders, as well as infections and allergies. But for us it all begins with high-quality digital imaging data,” said Scopio co-founder and CEO Itai Hayut.

Scopio has created a full end-to-end workflow to digitize and analyze blood samples. Scopio’s custom-designed “X100” digital slide-scanning device uses computational photography to produce ultra-high-resolution images of entire sample slides. The full digitized slide can then be explored, scrolled and zoomed at 100X magnification (interactive demo here) to get ultra-sharp views of individual cells, visible in the full context of the sample. Once scanned, Scopio images can be accessed anywhere, freeing hematopathologists and clinicians from the lab and the microscope so they can review and collaborate wherever they are.

With high-quality digital images of slides now available for the first time, Scopio has also developed AI-based decision-support solutions to analyze them. The company’s FDA-cleared and CE-marked Full-Field Peripheral Blood Smear (Full-Field PBS) Application supports detection, pre-classification and quantification for blood cells. More AI solutions are under development, including for bone marrow aspirates (BMA).

Remote diagnostic healthcare has grown in the last decade, with subfields like teleradiology enabling experts to review images from anywhere in the world. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated this trend of doing as much as possible remotely. Scopio brings the remote-work revolution to hematology and cell morphology, enabling a new subfield of telehematology.

“In the 21st century, people shouldn’t be looking through microscopes, manually counting cells,” said Itai Hayut, co-founder and CEO of Scopio. “Scopio’s full-field imaging and AI platform means tens of thousands of cells in a single sample can be examined, counted and analyzed instantly and reviewed by a specialist regardless of location, leading to faster, easier and earlier detection and diagnosis of cancers and many other life-threatening medical conditions.”

Morris Kahn, founder of Aurum Ventures, explained the decision to invest. “Scopio was able to develop the platform to move a whole medical discipline onto a digital solution. This is fascinating on the technology side and, most importantly, it will be a game changer for early detection which will save lives. I am excited to see their technology in hospitals and labs worldwide,” said Mr. Kahn.

Founded in 2015 by Itai Hayut and Erez Na’aman, Scopio is in use in leading medical centers and laboratories around the world. Scopio has 85 employees at its US, UK and Israel hubs. The company will use the new investment to double the number of employees, with a focus on technology, sales and strategic partnerships.

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