EchoNous — a company based in Redmond, Wash., working to develop next-generation ultrasound devices — announced Thursday that it has received a $35 million investment from KKR. Those funds build on KKR’s initial $35 million investment in the company in 2015, bringing its total funding to $70 million.
The company is working to build advanced ultrasound devices through its subsidiary Signostics, also headquartered in Redmond.
Signostics already has a device in the market: an “intelligent ultrasound” called Uscan that’s used for bladder and kidney care. It’s already used in 20 percent of U.S. health care systems, the company said in a press release.
The new funds will help EchoNous and Signostics continue to expand Uscan’s market use and will also be used to bring “a major new artificial-intelligence-driven ultrasound project to market,” the company said.
The basic idea of the Uscan is pretty cool. While most ultrasounds are stuck in 2-dimensional space, Uscan uses computer vision to understand a scan in three dimensions, making it more accurate.
“Using algorithms from the science of computer vision, Uscan actively recognizes the 3D contours of the bladder, for far more accurate volume measurements than the industry standard, even on obese and other hard‑to‑scan patients,” Signostics’ website says.
EchoNous is led by industry veteran Kevin Goodwin, who is most well known for leading ultrasound device developer Sonosite. He oversaw the 2011 sale of Sonosite to Fujifilm for $995 million.
EchoNous and Signostics employ 72 at their offices in the Seattle area. Currently, Signostics is EchoNous’ only subsidiary.
