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QUIBIM closes a seed funding round of €550,000
The funding will allow the company to improve the platform for medical image analysis and work in marketing and sales strategy
Valencia, 27 December 2016. QUIBIM SL is a biotechnology company dedicated to advanced medical image analysis that has announced the closing of its first round of funding worth 550,000 euros shared by Tech Transfer UPV, AYCE Capital, and Bioinfogate, besides the own promoters of the company.
It is the first company in Spain to close an investment round with a technology transfer fund associated with a Public University: TechTransfer UPV, whose purpose is the creation and consolidation of companies with high potential for growth, from the research field. This round of investment will enable the company to accelerate the development and commercialization of the product to continue to grow as a leading company in the management and processing of medical images for hospitals and the pharmaceutical industry, thus promoting its national consolidation and international expansion.
Based in Valencia (SPAIN), the company, which is Spin-Off of the Institute of Health Research La Fe, was founded in 2012 and promoted by Angel Alberich-Bayarri and Dr. Luis Martí Bonmatí after a long history of research and development. Ángel Alberich-Bayarri is PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Valencia and is the CEO of QUIBIM. Luis Martí-Bonmatí is an international Key Opinion Leader in Radiology and is the Director of the Clinical Area of Medical Image of the Hospital Universitario y Politécnico La Fe in Valencia.
The business model of QUIBIM (Quantitative Imaging Biomarkers in Medicine) is based on the extraction of quantitative information of medical images in radiology and nuclear medicine through original and advanced computer processing techniques. For Alberich-Bayarri, QUIBIM aims to: “improve the diagnostic processes of diseases with high incidence and adequately evaluate the changes that produce the pharmacological treatments in the organism, to contribute to much more accurate and early diagnoses, complementing in a quantitative and measurable way the qualitative valuation that is performed from the eye of the radiologist in today Medicine”.
QUIBIM was one of the start-ups valencianas selected in the 3rd edition of the acceleration program, promoted by the President of Mercadona, Juan Roig. The program allowed to boost the company with training and mentoring, as well as with a funding of approximately € 200,000.
The startup has developed a platform for medical image analysis in the cloud, which can be installed in private versions for hospitals and pharmaceutical companies to develop clinical trials. By using X-ray images, Ecography, CT, MRI or PET scans, QUIBIM is able to apply advanced analysis algorithms including GPU-based (graphics processing units) processing, or Big Data and Machine Learning methodologies. The QUIBIM software allows to provide more information in the diagnoses and to be able to evaluate in an early way the response to the pharmacological treatments.
The company markets different analytical models for hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and radiologists. For 2017 maintains a sales budget of 500,000 € of which to date has already committed 30%.
According to Angel Alberich-Bayarri: “We are very satisfied with this funding round because it is a great boost for us, the financing will allow us to improve our analysis platform and its commercialization. In addition, investors do not only contribute capital, but also their experience in the biotechnology sector, which is of special relevance to us in this phase of growth”
Pedro de Álava, director of the Tech Transfer UPV Fund, stressed that “the medical images are revolutionizing medicine by providing personalized, accurate and predictive solutions to the behavior of diseases. And the QUIBIM project brings together talent, technical discipline and scalability, which generates a wide value for hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and patients.”
Dr. José Mateos, a specialist in image diagnosis and medical director of Imagen Ensayos Clínicos SL (IEC), a leading company in image management in clinical trials with more than 10 years of experience, adding value to the studies promoted by the main pharmaceutical laboratories and CROs at the international level, stated “During the last 3 years we are growing and consolidating our position at local and national level. The current investment of our company in Quibim and the synergies already established a few months ago between both companies will place us as indispensable references in clinical trials at national and international level.”
Dr Jose Prous, Executive Director of BioInfoGate and co-founder of the Prous Institute for Biomedical Research, emphasized: “Imaging biomarkers are a key element in optimizing the discovery, development and clinical application of more effective and safe drugs. In the new era of precision medicine, the innovative analytical methods developed by QUIBIM will allow optimizing the therapeutic approach to multiple diseases. ”
About Tech Transfer UPV, fcr
Tech Transfer UPV is the first transfer fund of technology promoted within the Spanish university system that bets on projects of technology transfer and entrepreneurship generated at the Universitat Politècnica de València to accompany them on their way out to the market.
After this first investment closure, it has a net worth of 3.9 million euros. The Fund is represented by 28 Valencian and Castellón businessmen and professionals from different sectors who, in addition to investing, participate as validators of the projects. Among them, the Valencian Institute of Finance, Caixa Popular, Productos Citrosol, Air Nostrum, Grupo IVI, Multiscan, ACAL, Arca Telecom, S2 Group, Miarco, La Unión Alcoyana Seguros, Nero Family, Blast of partners, Tecnopaking, Vik Consulting or Ca & CCA engineering.
About AYCE Capital e Imagen en Ensayos Clínicos SL
AYCE Capital is a friendly business angels manager from Barcelona who works with projects from very different sectors: services, healthcare, industrial, retail, culture, agri-food, ICT …
IEC is an investor in QUIBIM by the hand of AYCE Capital
About Bioinfogate
BIOINFOGATE ( www.bioinfogate.com ) is a spin-off of Prous Institute for Biomedical Research ( www.prousresearch.com ), based in Barcelona. The company has been created with the aim of boosting research in biomedicine and medical technologies through the intensive use of “Big Data” methodologies and specialized databases.
The solutions developed by the Prous group have been used successfully over the last 50 years by scientists worldwide in the discovery of new drugs. First from Prous Science (acquired by Thomson Reuters in 2007), the world’s leading developer of Integrity and Drug of the Future publications, and later from the Prous Institute for Biomedical Research through the development of systems Experts in safety prediction and drug toxicity (Symmetry) and the invention of new molecules for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, cancer and diabetes.
The products of the Prous group are used daily in all organizations related to the health sciences including biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, public and private research centers and regulatory agencies such as the US Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA).
In addition to our own developments, Bioinfogate invests in emerging projects that are aligned with our core business in life sciences and data analysis.