Poland’s Cardiomatics raises $3.2 million, speeds up analysis, saves lives

In its efforts to speed up and improve the efficiency of electrocardiogram readings, Krakow-based Cardiomatics has raised $3.2 million in seed funding. Centered around a cloud-based AI service, the startup allows any trained medical professional, not just specialists, access to understanding the results of this complex form of testing. To date, the firm has raised just over $4.1 million.

ECGs aka EKGs record the electrical activity of the heart displayed as signal waves. With signal waves and sound waves not very distant cousins, Cardomatics was founded in 2017 by digital signal processing engineers Rafał Samborski and Mariusz Mąsior.

When it comes to issues of the heart, and I do mean physical, not emotional, ECG’s can provide valuable insights into what’s going on. However, they’re also often quite difficult to accurately decipher (much like emotions).

Seeking to get patients the treatments they may need in the time that they need it, Cardiomatics has logged over 3 million hours of training for an AI tool that can detect and analyse heart abnormalities, sort out various heart disorders, and clearly visualise beats and rhythms in the recording (about that music connection …). Instead of days, medical professionals using Cardiomatics have access to results in just minutes.

In 2019, one-third of all global fatalities involved cardiovascular disease in one form or another. This clearly indicates a need for faster and more accurate diagnosis process. Cardiomatics is taking the challenge head-on, and is already fully integrated with over 25 ECG monitoring devices with seamless connections to devices doctors are already using within their practices.

“In the 1950s, ECG machines were the size of backpacks and now a device as small as a matchbox can measure a person’s heart. It’s likely we’ll have more devices surrounding us in the future that can record electrophysiological parameters, which is why we need tools to help us understand the reams of ECG data that are being produced every day,” comments CEO and founder Rafał Samborski.

And if you just made the comparison between a matchbox (on average 48mm) and a smartwatch (you know, the one, on average, 44 mm) you’re not alone. Without naming names, your author recently came face to face with a situation where a close mate is doing just fine now, but an instant ECG and the ability to send it in real time to a service like the NHS could only have served to further understand what was happening, and delivery accurate treatment all the faster.

Cardomatics $3.2 million seed funding is provided by KAYA, with Nina Capital, Nova Capital, and Innovation Nest also participating. A $1m non-equity grant from the Polish National Centre of Research and Development is also part of the total raised.