Cyted raises £8.7M in first funding round
CAMBRIDGE, UK, 01 February 2020: Cyted Ltd (“Cyted” or “the Company”), a developer and provider of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and digital diagnostic infrastructure to enable earlier detection of disease, today announced it has raised £7.5M in a funding round led by Morningside Venture Capital. The funding will be used to scale the Company’s digital diagnostic infrastructure and technology, to enable earlier detection of disease. The Company has also received £1.2M additional funding under the Industrial Challenge Strategy Fund from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency for Project DELTA. The project is in collaboration with the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and King’s College London.
Cyted was founded in 2018 by a team of scientists and clinicians from the University of Cambridge, with support from Cancer Research UK. The Company’s products and services combine proprietary artificial intelligence technology and digital diagnostic infrastructure with next generation biomarkers. Cyted’s Dialogical®platform is a pathology reporting tool designed to streamline diagnostic and clinical workflows. The platform translates the underlying machine learning algorithm into a human-readable report by defining and explaining the pathological analysis.
Cyted’s services and products are initially focused on oesophageal cancer, where the combination of an identifiable at-risk population coupled with excellent therapy options offers a unique opportunity to improve patient outcomes through early detection. WithinProject DELTA, Cyted is developing AI algorithms to assist pathologists with rapid diagnosis of Barrett’s oesophagus in patients who can then be monitored regularly for early signs of cancer.
Dr Will West, Investment Advisor, Morningside Venture Captial, and Chairman, Cyted, said:
This is one of the most promising approaches we have seen to develop and deploy diagnostics at scale. I look forward to working alongside the team, supporting them as the company continues to grow.
Marcel Gehrung, CEO, Cyted, comments:
We are grateful to our investors for recognising the significant potential that Cyted offers. This substantial financial support of the company will enable us to develop, launch and scale our services. We are also excited to be part of Project DELTA. Diagnosing oesophageal cancer at an early stage allows for early intervention, improving quality of life.
About Cyted
Cytedis enabling the earlier detection of disease, providing products and services that combine proprietary artificial intelligence technology and digital diagnostic infrastructure with next generation biomarkers.
With significant expertise in pathology, the Company is developing a pipeline of digital and molecular tests for disease detection and risk stratification to streamline diagnostic and clinical workflows. Cyted has the capacity to rapidly implement its sample processing and analysis workflow at scale via Dialogical®, its proprietary pathology reporting platform based on machine learning algorithms.
The Company’s services and products are initially focused on oesophageal cancer, where the combination of patient population, pathological analysis and therapeutic options offers a unique opportunity to improve patient outcomes through early detection.
About Morningside Venture Capital
Morningside Group was founded in 1986, by the Chan family of Hong Kong, to make private equity and venture capital investments. The group is managed by investment professionals who are entrepreneurial, have deep industry knowledge and are effective in the local environment in which they operate. In addition to its investment activities, Morningside Group is strongly committed to social responsibility.
About Project DELTA
Project DELTA aims to improve the diagnosis of oesophageal cancer. It is a collaboration between the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Kings College London, the PHG Foundation and Cyted. Advisory Board support is provided by Action Against Heartburn, Heartburn Cancer UK, the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Cancer Alliance and Newcastle University. The project aims to develop algorithms to identify individuals most at risk. These people will be offered a Cytosponge™-TFF3 test, which can be delivered in an office setting. Cyted will develop AI algorithms to assist pathologists with rapid diagnoses. People diagnosed with Barrett’s oesophagus can then be monitored regularly for early signs of cancer.
