Kardi AI – Healthcare
What it is:
Kardi AI offers a health monitoring device that provides medical-grade cardiac monitoring at home. It uses Artificial Intelligence to achieve EKG-level performance and assess, monitor, and diagnose heart conditions. It requires a smartphone and a low-cost wearable chest belt, and helps users connect to their cardiologist to speed up the diagnostic process. Kardi-AI’s artificial neural network monitors and diagnoses the user’s heart every day, letting them know if they should contact their doctor or go to the emergency room.
To use, a chest belt from Polar is worn to monitor the user’s heart. The data collected gets transmitted to the user’s smartphone. The user can also indicate the symptoms (i.e. palpitations, shortness of breath, cough, etc.) that have led them to monitor their heart at that moment. AI cleans the data, and the neural network analyzes the data to suggest a course of action, which is viewable in the Kardi AI app. The user’s doctor can view the summarized ECG data to make a diagnosis and further recommendations.
Who Made It?
Kardi AI was co-founded in 2022 by Tomáš Skála and Stephen Burke and is based in the Czech Republic. Burke, who is American, currently serves as the company’s CEO. He saw an issue with the lengthy heart monitoring process, and worked with Skála, a doctor, to create a plan for a solution and set about development.
The Kardi AI facility is located at the First Internal Department of Cardiology at Palacký University in Olomouc, Czech Republic. As of the end of May 2022, they have tested the device on a total of 160 patients, under the guidance of Dr. Skála.
Funding status:
The company raised €350K (~$373K) of seed funding in a deal led by BrightCap Ventures on May 25, 2022. DEPO Ventures and other undisclosed individual investors also participated in the round. The funds will be used to deliver the product to the market starting with the Czech Republic, followed by an expansion to other markets.
Why we like it:
- Kardi AI measures the heart with a monitoring tape from Polar, which collaborated with the startup on its development
- The data in the device is evaluated daily by an artificial neural network and, if necessary, it warns the patient to seek medical help or call an ambulance immediately
Did you know?
Heart failure is a global pandemic affecting at least 26 million people worldwide and is increasing in prevalence. Source