Imagia announced on Wednesday that it has completed the acquisition of Cadens Medical Imaging for an undisclosed amount.
“It was an opportunity to put all of the firepower under one roof — we saw the potential for synergies,” Frédéric Francis, CEO of Imagia, told HCB News.
Imagia — a health care artificial intelligence company that develops radionics biomarkers and clinical decision support systems — first started working with Cadens two years ago on a colon cancer collaboration.
Since 2008, Cadens has been in the business of developing and marketing medical imaging software products for cancer care. It also has extensive experience with AI-based software products.
“[Imagia’s founders] have had successful ventures applying AI optimization in other verticals like supply chain optimization for retail,” said Francis. “With the new capabilities that are coming online and new breakthroughs, they thought this might be the time that something could be done at the patient-benefit level with AI.”
This transaction will bring together Imagia’s deep learning expertise and Cadens’ capabilities in clinical AI and imaging. The initial focus will be on developing oncology biomarkers that can predict a patient’s disease progression and treatment response.
The acquisition was funded with proceeds from Imagia’s Series A financing, which was initiated in December, led by BDC Healthcare Venture Fund and joined by Fidelity Investments Canada ULC.
Cadens' management structure will not change as a result of the acquisition and Imagia even plans to hire and add to the team, both on the AI and medical sides.
