AI cancer screening company Ezra raises $21M

The company doubled its revenue in 2023, and also received FDA clearance for Ezra Flash AI

Improved cancer screening has the potential to detect cancers earlier; however, right now, only 14% of diagnosed cancers are detected by screening with a preventative screening test. In fact, 57% of cancers don't have recommended screening tests and account for 70% of cancer deaths in the US.

Ezra is looking to make cancer screenings more widely available and more affordable with it a direct-to-consumer cancer screening platform, which uses a combination of MRI screenings and artificial intelligence to make them more accurate cancer.

"Ezra stands apart in our industry by being the only company leveraging proprietary AIs across all three key components of the cancer screening process: imaging, analysis, and reporting," Emi Gal, the company's CEO and co-founder, told VatorNews.

The company will continue to build out its AI thanks to a newly announced $21 million funding round co-led by Healthier Capital and FirstMark Capital, with participation from Allianz Life Ventures, the Schwarzman family, former Chairman of England’s National Health Service Lord David Prior, Gaingels, Republic, and Mana Ventures. Existing investors Credo Ventures, Seedcamp, LDV Capital, Accomplice, Founders Future, Vlad Tenev, Anne Wojcicki, and Esther Dyson also participated, bringing its total funding to $41 million. 

Along with the funding, Amir Dan Rubin, former CEO of Amazon’s One Medical and founder of Healthier Capital, has joined Ezra’s Board of Directors. 

"Amir has built one of the most successful healthcare technology companies in the US, and has had tremendous success in scaling One Medical nationally. We're excited for him to help us scale Ezra nationally as well, and support us as we scale to offering Ezra to employers, physicians, and ultimately payors," said Gal.

Founded in 2017, Ezra's platform allows patients to schedule appointments with a RadNet imaging facility; when they arrive, they are greeted by a member of the Ezra staff at the facility who then guides them through the process. The member gets their scan done and then the results are made available within their Ezra interface. They can also use the platform to schedule a call or a meeting to speak to the Ezra physician to be taken through the results.

The company partners with existing outpatient imaging facilities and all Ezra scans are analyzed by board-certified radiologists. The company's cancer screening programs are currently live in 18 facilities across New York, New Jersey, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Irvine, Miami, and Las Vegas); by the end of this year the company plan to be in over 50 facilities in 20 cities. Currently, Ezra is scanning thousands of people per year, and has helped hundreds of people find cancer so far. 

Ezra doubled its revenue in 2023, and also received FDA clearance for Ezra Flash AI, enabling the launch of the world's first 30-minute full body MRI scan enhanced by AI.

"We've been doubling our revenue and scans every year since we started Ezra: last year was a breakout year for the Full Body MRI space so we started seeing increased demand in the second half of the year, hence why we've raised this round in order to accelerate growth even further," Gal explained.

The company will also be using the new funding to double down on its AI efforts and continue investing in its master plan of offering a 15-minute full body MRI priced at $500, something it hopes to achieve in the next two to three years," said Gal said.

"We're a very mission driven company - our mission is to detect cancer early for everyone. This year, 10 million people will be diagnosed with late-stage cancer. Our ambition at Ezra is to help all these individuals find cancer early, when it's most curable."

(Image source: ezra.com)