Medical imaging is crucial for the timely identification of serious diseases like cancer. However, manual interpretation of scans is a time-intensive process. Healthcare professionals increasingly use AI-powered tools for diagnostic purposes, as such technologies can be very effective in detecting and categorizing diseases.
A Sydney, Australia-headquartered startup, Harrison.ai, has built AI-enabled medical diagnostic software and services to analyze CT scans, X-rays and pathology slides for radiologists and medical examiners. On Tuesday, the startup said it’s raised $112 million, equivalent to AUD 179 million, in Series C funding, to scale its international reach in key markets, including the U.S., EMEA, and Asia Pacific. It declined comment on its valuation when asked.
Aware Super, ECP Asset Management, and Horizons Ventures co-led the funding round along with new investors including the National Reconstruction Fund, Ord Minnett, Wollemi Capital Group, and returning investors such as Alpha JWC Ventures and Blackbird Ventures.
Harrison.ai offers two different products: Diagnostic software that’s focused on radiology, called Annalise.ai, and a pathology-focused offering, Franklin.ai — both with the overarching goal of helping clinicians diagnose medical conditions more accurately and efficiently. The startup believes the AI tools can aid in the early detection of medical conditions, expedite treatment decisions, and reduce wait time for patients.
“Radiology (X-rays, CT scans) and pathology (tissue biopsies) serve as critical diagnostic tools for confirming medical diagnoses,” Dr. Aengus Tran, Harrison.ai’s CEO and co-founder, said in an exclusive interview with TechCrunch. “[Harrison’s] solutions also act as a second pair of eyes for radiologists and pathologists, enhancing workflow efficiency while reducing misdiagnosis risks for cancer and other critical illnesses –ultimately improving patient outcomes.”
The startup wants its technology to help address the global shortage of skilled clinicians and the surge in demand for diagnosis that’s impacting both developed and under-developed healthcare systems.
Harrison.ai was founded in 2018 by brothers Dr. Aengus Tran and Dimitry Tran, who grew up in Vietnam before moving to Australia. Aengus, a doctor trained in Sydney, saw first-hand the capacity constraints in diagnosis and treatment that led to poor outcomes for patients. Dimitry and Aengus teamed up to create Harrison.ai, using their respective experience in healthcare strategy and medical/AI expertise with the goal of boosting healthcare capacity through AI automation.
The startup’s latest financing, which brings Harrison.ai’s total raised to $240 million, comes roughly three years after its Series B round (approximately $92.3 million, back in November 2021).
Since its Series B, the startup has established Franklin.ai, its pathology solution; while its first product in Prostate Biopsy is in development and will be available in 2025, per Tran.
It began monetizing Annalise.ai back in 2022 — and has tripled contracted annual recurring revenue each year for the past three consecutive years for the radiology offering, he added. Annalise.ai is currently operational in more than 1,000 healthcare facilities in various countries, supporting the treatment of over 6 million patients annually.
The startup, which now has roughly 200 employees, has expanded beyond Australia and now operates in 15 countries, including the U.K., U.S., Italy, Germany, Spain, UAE, New Zealand, Singapore, India, Malaysia, and Vietnam. It has regulatory clearance for clinical use in 40 countries, including 12 FDA clearances in the U.S., and plans to set up a North American presence in Boston this year.
“We have a typical software revenue model — similar to many SaaS companies — making it simple for our customers to buy and deploy for use in clinical practice,” said Harrison.ai’s CEO.
There are an array of players in the space, including the likes of Aidoc, Gleamer, Rad AI and Zebra. But Tran argues it’s been able to set itself apart from competitors since its Chest X-ray product has gained regulatory clearance across 40 countries for the detection of up to 124 findings, which it says is approximately 4x what rivals can do.
The startup also claims that research shows Harrison’s AI for chest radiography can help detect lung cancer earlier, potentially diagnosing more than 32% of cases 16 months sooner. (This information is based on a study conducted by the Asian Institute for Distance Education at healthcare provider Alfred Health in 2024.)
Similarly, its CT Brain product has obtained regulatory clearance for the detection of up to 130 findings, again, a number that’s approximately 4x greater than that of competitors, according to Tran.
“This is made possible through our access to extensive datasets which have been fine-tuned by more than 250 specialist doctors, over more than 240,000 hours,” he said, adding that the startup will be using some of the new funding to build out even more AI automation across more diagnostic tests other than radiology and pathology.
Last year, the company launched Harrions.rad.1, a radiology-specific vision-language model that can answer open-ended visual questions about radiology images, detect findings, and provide descriptions. This model, which is not commercially available — but is accessible to researchers, industry partners, and regulators –powers the startup’s products, and outperforms other foundational models, as well as standard radiology examinations conducted by human radiologists, according to the company.
