Diag-Nose.io, a Melbourne, biotechnology startup using artificial intelligence (AI) to help people breathe more easily, has raised $3.15 million in Seed funding.
The round was led by state government investment fund Breakthrough Victoria, which chipped in $800,000. Other investors include Radar Ventures, Specialty Physician Associates, an international syndicate of physicians from leading hospitals including Houston Methodist and Mount Sinai, and biotech executives Stephen Ho and Richard Lipscombe, as well as Carl Stubbings, who is joining the board.
The startup, founded in 2020, previously receive a $50,000 LaunchVic grant under its MedTech Market Growth Program.
Diag-Nose.io is hoping to transform the management of chronic respiratory diseases globally. Originally established at the Stanford ENT Innovation Program and now based in Melbourne, the biotech startup is focused on the “unified airway”; the biological relationship between the lungs and nasal passages, using AI to translate it into precision diagnostic and drug discovery solutions.
Their goal is to help clinicians prescribe the right treatments faster and enable researchers to accelerate the development of new therapies.
Cofounder and CEO Eldin Rostom said traditional diagnostic methods for chronic respiratory conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), rely on outdated measurement tools and subjective assessments, which lead to treatment failure for more than 30% of patients.
Diag-Nose cofounder and CEO Eldin Rostom
“Over a third of Australians suffer from chronic respiratory conditions, and globally, these diseases impact more than 450 million people, resulting in approximately four million deaths in 2019,” he said.
Diag-Nose.io collects a nasal sample from patients to analyse in their AI-powered biomarker diagnostic tool, RhinoMAP, which can determine disease progression and therapeutic responsiveness and in the long-term, differential diagnostic recommendations.
Rostom said RhinoMAP removes the guesswork, enabling clinicians to match treatments to a patient’s unique biological profile, or “endotype.”
“Together with the new biologics medicines, our RhinoMAP system will bring us one step closer towards the holy grail of respiratory medicine; helping patients become completely free of symptoms,” he said.
“This progress is only made possible thanks to the dedicated support and investment from visionary partners who share our mission.”
Diag-Nose.io plans to launch a series of clinical studies in 2025 across Australia and the United States to further validate their technology.
Investor and new director Carl Stubbings said Carl expressed Diag-Nose.io’s approach “is a truly revolutionary step forward” in respiratory medicine.
The ability to personalise treatment through AI-driven biomarker analysis has the potential to change millions of lives,” he said.
“I’m thrilled to support this mission and help bring RhinoMAP to the global stage.”
Breakthrough Victoria Acting CEO, Lauren Morrey said their investment “reflects our commitment to supporting groundbreaking technologies that can significantly improve patient outcomes and streamline drug development”.
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