Spokane startup Gestalt Diagnostics raises $7.5M to advance AI-enabled cancer detection

Gestalt Diagnotistics, a Spokane, Wash.-based healthcare startup, has raised $7.5 million to enhance its artificial intelligence tools for digital pathology analysis.

Gestalt’s technology aims to improve cancer detection, allowing for real-time collaboration between health providers and pathologists and faster diagnosis.

The new funding will support efforts to reach more customers, improve the tool’s AI capabilities, and aid in the pursuit of Food and Drug Administration clearance. The digital analysis technology is increasingly important, the startup notes, given the rising cancer rates and declining number of pathologists.

“We’ve already streamlined how pathologists navigate fragmented systems by creating PathFlow, a unified platform for viewing pathology cases digitally and collaborating with leading experts in real-time without the need to ship specimens,” Gestalt CEO Dan Roark said in a statement. “Now, we’ll accelerate innovation and scale our reach to meet the growing demands of modern pathology.”

Gestalt launched in 2017 and has employs people across the country and internationally, while maintaining a central hub in Spokane. The Eastern Washington city is home to 57 biotech companies, according to a new report from the trade organization Life Science Washington.

The Series A round was led by Cowles Ventures, TVF Funds, Inland Imaging Investments, KickStart Funds and angel investors from the Pacific Northwest.

Gestalt has raised a total of $13.9 million, according to PitchBook.

The biotech sector is off to a strong start in Washington state, with companies landing $646.17 million across 14 deals in the first quarter of the year, according to Flinn Ferguson Cresa.