What You Ought to Know:
– Techmed startup illumicell AI, based by a staff of Harvard-trained doctor Michel Bielecki, former McKinsey advisor Jeyla Sadikova, and rocket engineer Loup Cordey, has secured $2M in pre-seed funding. The funding spherical was supported by a mix of healthcare operators, clinicians, and early-stage funds, together with life science buyers KOFA Healthcare, Harvard Phoenix Enterprise Fund, and MedTechSyndicates
– The corporate goals to rework fluid-based diagnostics with its transportable “lab scanner” and real-time AI platform, able to analyzing cells and biomarkers inside minutes.
– The preliminary product focuses on a transportable sperm evaluation scanner designed to redefine male fertility care and set up a broader infrastructure for mobile well being information.
Addressing a Crucial Want in Male Fertility
The corporate highlights that whereas 1 in 6 {couples} globally expertise infertility, lower than 25% of males obtain a correct fertility analysis. Within the U.S., numerous sperm checks are referred by docs and specialists, however solely a restricted variety of clinics can course of them, resulting in delays for sufferers.
illumicell AI’s know-how, which features a proprietary, transportable imaging system and AI-driven algorithms, goals to resolve these bottlenecks by offering outcomes 50 instances sooner and at 20 instances decrease price, immediately in any physician’s workplace.
Dr. Michel Bielecki, co-founder and CEO of illumicell AI, emphasizes the potential to enhance healthcare high quality by enabling real-time, lab-grade fluid diagnostics in any physician’s workplace, decreasing wait instances and prices for sufferers. He additionally notes that every check contributes to a suggestions loop, aiding clinicians and coaching AI fashions.
Increasing Past Fertility
illumicell AI’s know-how generates structured, labeled cell information with every scan. The corporate is constructing a real-time dataset in male reproductive well being, presently comprising over 400,000 information factors.
This information has the potential to supply customized fertility insights, together with:
- Life-style-linked fertility modifications over time
- Fertility response to interventions
- Early detection of fertility decline
Whereas initially targeted on fertility, illumicell AI’s platform has the potential to be utilized to different bodily fluids, enabling real-time mobile intelligence throughout varied healthcare fields.
Early Progress and Future Plans
illumicell AI experiences that its prototype has proven sturdy correlation to gold-standard lab leads to medical trials, outperforming legacy methods. The corporate has secured Letters of Intent (LOIs) with fertility clinics within the USA, Japan, and Switzerland, and plans to submit for FDA approval in 2026. illumicell AI has additionally acquired recognition from innovation packages corresponding to Harvard Innovation Labs, Inventive Destruction Lab, MassChallenge Boston, Techstars, and Keihanna KGAP+ in Japan, and was acknowledged by the American Urological Affiliation.
“Fertility stays rooted in conventional approaches – nonetheless inserting the burden of fertility virtually totally on ladies. It’s a bias that’s culturally pushed and scientifically flawed,” added Jeyla Sadikova, co-founder at illumicell AI. “Whereas 1 in 6 {couples} face infertility, the diagnostic and therapy focus is overwhelmingly centered on ladies – though male elements are concerned in as much as half of all circumstances. illumicell AI is altering that. We’re making quick, correct, scalable male fertility diagnostics accessible wherever, so analysis begins the place it ought to: with each companions, equally.”
