BlueDot, a disease containment technology spinout set up by St Michael’s Hospital and Mars Innovation, has secured series A capital.

BlueDot, a Canada-based disease containment technology developer spun out in partnership with multi-institution commercialisation firm Mars Innovation, has attracted C$9.2m ($6.9m) in series A funding, BetaKit reported yesterday. Insurance co-operative The Co-operators and Canadian government-owned venture arm BDC Capital co-led the round, investing through their respective funds Insurtech and Women in Technology Venture Fund. Founded in 2008 as BioDiaspora, BlueDot develops products that enable healthcare, insurance and government customers to predict infectious disease risks, using artificial intelligence, big data analytics and other digital technologies. The products employ features such as automated alerts and a geographical map of disease incidents, in order to track, contextualise and anticipate the spread of disease. The fresh supply of capital will help BlueDot continue to develop AI-driven products and accrue further business with government, healthcare and insurance sector clients. BlueDot will also use the funding to target expansion in global markets. BlueDot was founded by its chief executive, Kamran Khan, a clinician-scientist at St Michael’s Hospital and associate professor in the division of infectious diseases at University of Toronto’s Department of Medicine. Horizon Ventures invested a reported $2.5m in BlueDot in 2014 – the contribution was originally referred to as series A capital but has since been described as seed funding. BlueDot had already received C$400,000 ($300,000 at today’s rates) from Mars Innovation at an undisclosed date, in a pre-seed round reportedly sized at $376,000. At the time, the investment was considered seed-stage capital.

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