In Conversation With
First up, give us the elevator pitch on Kheiron Medical?
Kheiron Medical Technologies is transforming cancer diagnostics through the power of deep learning. Our first solution is Mia, a breakthrough AI platform for breast screening that has been designed to empower radiologists and deliver the best service possible to any woman, anywhere.
What are some of the opportunities and challenges you see for early stage healthcare companies in 2021?
This is a unique moment in the history of healthcare. Healthcare is one of the last major aspects of our lives that has not been revolutionised by technology. COVID has brought tremendous losses and many challenges to healthcare systems, but it has also accelerated the adoption of new technologies and treatments necessary to overcome them. Recently, one NHS CIO said that in the last six months, he has been able to adopt more new technology into his hospitals than the previous eighteen years.
Since COVID has forced programmes to be stopped or put on pause, one healthcare challenge brought to the fore by the pandemic is the huge breast screening backlog. At Kheiron, we are focused on solving this problem through the deployment of our AI breast screening platform called Mia. With help from the team at InHealth, we will be launching our first pilot in 2021.
What has raising VC investment enabled you to achieve as a business?
InHealth has been an extraordinary partner in every respect. From our first pitch, the InHealth team understood the value of our proposition and since then they have supported us in many different ways; from investment to collaborating on strategic projects, and generally being a champion for us.
What should founders look for in their investors? What can the right ones bring to the table?
Founders should look for investors with integrity that are aligned with their mission. They should also look for a team that has experience in driving the core dynamics of their business, including scaling and relevant domain expertise. The fact that the InHealth team has deep experience in healthcare and specifically screening has been a huge asset to us.
What advice would you give founders look to raise early-stage funding?
Don’t underestimate the power of a mission and the role of storytelling in fundraising. You have to understand the fundamentals of your business and market, and you need a team that can execute. But what really sets companies apart is being able to appeal to funders’ hearts as well as their heads.
And, finally, what’s your top book recommendation for entrepreneurs?
The Hard Thing about Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. A must read for any CEO.
This Q&A with Sarah Kerruish from Kheiron Medical was done in January 2021
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