Samay raises $7M seed for AI device that hears lung disease early
What's the deal? SamayDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a US-based startup founded by Colombian physician María Artunduaga, has raised $7 million in a seed round for an AI-powered device that diagnoses respiratory disease. The tool works like a stethoscope for the chest, sending sound through the ribcage and listening to how the lungs resonate.
What's the endgame? Artunduaga says the device matches the performance of machines costing $80,000, but its prototype costs $70 to produce — a figure that could fall to $30 at scale. An algorithm detects damage in the smallest airways, she says, catching disease "five years before" the larger machines.
Why it matters: Earlier detection means "more years of life, lived better," Artunduaga says, along with fewer crises and deaths from respiratory illness. The company describes itself as an artificial intelligence firm, with the hardware acting as a low-cost front end for its diagnostics. (Translated from Spanish.)
The signal: At $7 million, Samay's seed round sits above roughly 96% of all-time seed rounds for connected-device startups in the US — a sign investors are willing to back cheaper, AI-driven alternatives to expensive medical hardware.
Read more: elespectador.com
Image credit: Samay
