The AI medical device firm has raised funds from Intrepid Growth Partners to grow its business internationally. 

AI medical device firm Skin Analytics has raised £15 million in Series B funding led by growth equity firm Intrepid Growth Partners.

The firm will use the funding to expand its focus and launch products that cover all dermatology concerns as well as expand internationally to other key markets struggling with dermatologist shortages such as Europe and Australia. It will also accelerate the firm’s move into the US market.

The funding follows Skin Analytics’ recent EU MDR Class III CE mark approval, making its technology, DERM, the world’s first legally authorised AI medical device to independently make clinical decisions on skin cancer without human review.

“AI allows us to move from a world of specialist scarcity to one where we have the capacity to see everyone who is concerned about their skin,” said Neil Daly, founder and chief executive of Skin Analytics. 

“Starting with skin cancer, this funding allows us to work with our partners to build new models of care that everyone can access, whenever they want to. That brings us closer to the world where no one dies from skin cancer.”

Autonomous discharge

Skin Analytics’ AI medical device has been deployed at 26 NHS sites, where it has been used in pathways that have seen more than 150,000 patients and detected more than 14,000 cancers.

DERM can autonomously discharge up to 40% of urgent suspected skin cancer referrals, freeing up specialist resources. It rules out the most high-risk skin cancers 99.8% of the time, exceeding the 98.9% accuracy of dermatologists. The firm says that NHS Trusts across England using DERM have reduced unnecessary face-to-face dermatology appointments by up to 95%.

“This is just the beginning. AI will allow us to redesign healthcare systems around the world to the benefit of patients. The faster we scale, the more lives we can impact. That mission drives us every day,” said Daly. 

The firm has raised £23.3 million in a number of rounds since 2016. It raised its undisclosed Series A round in October 2022.