Ikerian AG, Parent Company of RetinAI U.S. Inc. Announces Final Close of USD 6.18M (CHF 5.65M) Series A Extension Financing

BERN, Switzerland and BOSTON, May 02, 2024 - Ikerian AG and its subsidiary, RetinAI U.S. Inc., a leading developer of software solutions for medical image and data management, and artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare, announced today the successful close of its USD 6.18M (CHF 5.65M) Series A Extension financing, with new and existing investors.

The final close was led by strategic investor the Corporate Venture Capital arm of Topcon Healthcare, Inc. The first close in 2023 added Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) as a new investor alongside existing Seed and Series A venture firms, the btov Industrial Technologies fund, managed by Matterwave Ventures, Verve Ventures, and private investors.

As part of the financing, and to facilitate its evolution and growth, the company has concluded its corporate restructuring commenced in 2023, to spearhead development beyond ophthalmology with RetinAI Medical AG rebranded as Ikerian AG, and wholly-owned subsidiary RetinAI U.S. Inc. focused on the ophthalmology market.

Dr. Carlos Ciller, Chairman and CEO of Ikerian, and CEO of RetinAI said: “The successful closing of this financing confirms the importance of our AI technology to re-invent workflows for clinical and pharmaceutical research to support more efficient and effective patient care. These funds will allow us to expedite development efforts of our RetinAI Discovery^® platform and our pipeline of AI technologies, and to collaborate with Topcon Healthcare and the industry to advance AI in ophthalmology and beyond.”

A commercial stage ophthalmology company, with growing revenues, RetinAI continues to advance its product offerings for pharma, life sciences companies, and ophthalmology and optometry clinics. The company is expanding its Real-World Evidence (RWE) database across eye diseases, including Geographic Atrophy (GA), Neovascular Age-related Macular Degeneration (nAMD) and Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), where eye biomarkers play a role in diagnosis and disease monitoring. The company helps customers evaluate real world outcomes in diverse patient populations driven by AI insights on these biomarkers.

Dr. Sandro De Zanet, Chief Scientific Officer at Ikerian and RetinAI said: “Having a portfolio of RWE insights allows RetinAI to deliver even greater value to pharma by accelerating clinical studies and enriching AI-based data analysis to support future treatments. In addition, generative AI technology is helping us revolutionize analysis and patient screening for clinical studies. The Discovery tool and AI biomarkers that we have developed will simplify analysis across vast imaging datasets needed to successfully complete a clinical trial.”

RetinAI has achieved notable successes to date. It has a strategic collaboration with Retina Consultants of America (RCA), and has collaborated with major pharma companies including Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen (a J&J company) and Novartis. In February 2024, it entered a new market, launching its RetinAI Discovery^® Clinics platform for ophthalmology and optometry clinics across Europe, establishing a footprint of AI-driven workflows for patient management. RetinAI Discovery^® and the company’s AI models have 5 approvals including achieving FDA 510(k) clearance for the data management platform for clinical use and integration into U.S.-based clinics and in the European Union.

This Series A Extension brings to USD 11.66M (CHF 10.66M) the total equity raised including the Seed and Series A rounds. The company has initiated its Series B financing to fund further growth and development, including new opportunities to expand beyond ophthalmology.

Dr. Carlos Ciller added: “I am proud of the achievements RetinAI has made and look forward to this next stage of growth. Ikerian will use the ‘eye as a window to the body’ to advance healthcare in systemic and chronic diseases, such as neurological and cardiovascular conditions, generating new knowledge and playing an instrumental role in improving healthcare for individuals worldwide.”

For further information please contact:

At the company
Carlos Ciller, PhD, CEO - Ikerian AG and RetinAI Inc US carlos@ikerian.com, carlos@retinai.com

Media enquiries
Sue Charles, Charles Consultants - sue@charles-consultants.com +44 (0)7968726585

About Ikerian AG www.ikerian.com and RetinAI Inc. US www.retinai.com
Established in 2017, Ikerian AG (formerly RetinAI Medical AG) and its subsidiary, RetinAI U.S. Inc. (‘Ikerian’, ‘RetinAI’ and, together, ‘the company’), develops software solutions to accelerate clinical, research and pharmaceutical workflows globally using advanced machine learning and computer vision.

Focused on the ophthalmology and optometry market, RetinAI builds tools to collect, organize and analyze health data from the eyes, enabling healthcare professionals to make the right decisions sooner in healthcare. RetinAI's international team leverages its clinical, technical, and scientific expertise to foster the transition from reactive to preventive medicine for severe eye diseases.

A commercial stage company with growing sales from RetinAI Discovery^®, RetinAI has established collaborations and partnerships with leading ophthalmology and pharmaceutical companies including RetinAI Consultants of America (RCA), Boehringer Ingelheim, J&J and Novartis.

Based in Bern, Switzerland and Boston, U.S.A., the company has raised USD 11.66M (CHF10.66M) in equity finance from investors including the Corporate Venture Capital arm of Topcon Healthcare, Inc, the Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB), b2venture, Matterwave Ventures and Verve Ventures.

Follow us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/ikerian/about/ and Ikerian https://www.linkedin.com/company/retinai/

About RetinAI Discovery^®‍
RetinAI Discovery^® (‘Discovery’) is a software platform to enable the right decisions sooner based on evidence, AI-derived insights, automation & data. Discovery is a modular and certified (FDA - 510(K) / CE - MDR) medical image & data platform that digests data, works via the web browser in the cloud, enables precision analysis with proprietary AI models and transfer of medical data linked to the patient, connecting devices, data sources & decisions in a seamless and secure manner. Discovery is the workbench for healthcare professionals throughout the entire journey of the disease, facilitating decisions for better patient care.

About Topcon Healthcare, Inc. https://topconhealthcare.com/
Topcon Healthcare is part of Topcon Corporation (TSE 7732). Our vision is to improve access and quality of healthcare while decreasing the overall cost. To achieve this mission, we have established Harmony, a platform to accelerate the evolution of AI-powered algorithms that enable the detection of systemic, neurological, and ophthalmic disease markers even before discernable symptoms are present. Topcon Healthcare is investing in innovators focused on healthcare transformation with an emphasis on AI-powered digital healthcare from the eye. This approach helps doctors to prevent disease and, when needed, to treat at the earliest disease state for better, less costly outcomes.

A truly global business, Topcon Corporation is focused on developing solutions to solve societal challenges in the mega-domains of healthcare, agriculture, and infrastructure. In healthcare, these challenges include increasing eye disease, rising medical costs, physician shortages, and unequal access to healthcare. By investing in value-driven innovations, Topcon Corporation works to help people enjoy good health and a better quality of life.

Follow us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/topcon-healthcare/

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e2aae1a0-6bad-4db0-b54f-bf4c4fc853d5