Partnering with Sonus Microsystems to Deliver the Next-Gen Ultrasound For Remote Diagnostic Imaging
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(R-L) Sonus CEO & President Hani Eskandari, Co-founder & Director of R&D Carlos Gerardo and Evan Nisselson, General Partner at LDV Capital, holding a wafer that contains several ultrasound transducers, which has been fabricated in less than 24 hours.
Sonus Microsystems is unveiling the next generation of ultrasound technology, delivering remote diagnostic imaging, without the need to go to a clinic or hospital. Born at the University of British Columbia, Sonus is developing the tools needed to turn remote diagnostic imaging and monitoring into a reality. The team is led by four Ph.D.s with 100 years of combined experience in ultrasound, nanotechnology and semiconductors – Hani Eskandari, Carlos D. Gerardo, Robert Rohling and Edmond Cretu.
Ultrasound devices and services, a nearly $100 billion market, are significantly growing in applications across medical, therapeutic, surgical, and diagnostic equipment. Sonus Microsystems is set out to redefine the ultrasound landscape, enabling new possibilities in ultrasound imaging that are beyond the reach of conventional technologies.
The stagnant development of ultrasound transducers over the past several decades poses challenges in the medical sector, where ultrasound imaging largely depends on sonographers' expertise who manually perform scanning and measurement – a skill requiring several years of training. Today’s ultrasound transducers are still built leveraging the same piezoelectric technology from 70 years ago and face enduring limitations. This stagnation in transducer development impedes the introduction of innovative designs and applications, stressing the need for versatile, high-performance and cost-effective solutions to tap the full potential of ultrasound technology.
In 2018, Evan Nisselson forecasted that over the next decade, healthcare will be doctor-directed, patient-oriented and powered by visual technologies: “Visual data capture will be done with smaller, easier-to-use devices, allowing imaging to move out of the radiology department and into the operating room, the pharmacy and your living room.”
An early prototype of a linear array of polyCMUT transducers by Sonus
At LDV Capital, we are thrilled to partner and invest in the brilliant Sonus Microsystems team developing a novel and proprietary ultrasound technology that utilizes polymer MEMS sensors to send and receive ultrasonic waves. They are ushering in a new era of ultrasound by commercializing high-performance, custom-designed linear and matrix array transducers for emerging applications in ultrasound imaging.
Sonus’ transducers are empowered by the innovative polyCMUT technology (stands for polymer-based Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasound Transducers). This advanced method of manufacturing ultrasonic transducer arrays involves crafting thousands of vibrating micro-drums on different types of substrate, resulting in superior performance for imaging and testing applications. The polyCMUT technology is a leap forward in the ultrasound field, offering significant flexibility over the use of conventional ultrasound transducers and promising a new standard for diagnostic imaging and material testing.
Sonus’s novel matrix technology is paving the way for accessible AI-powered patches that automate ultrasound scanning and measurement. This will unlock affordable monitoring and screening of patients.
“We are uniquely positioned with over 100 years of ultrasound domain expertise to deliver our cutting-edge customizable ultrasound transducers which enable automated imaging for remote monitoring and wearable ultrasound applications powered by AI diagnosis,” says Dr. Hani Eskandari, CEO and President at Sonus Microsystems.
At our 10th Annual LDV Vision Summit, Dr. Eskandari delivered a keynote speech titled 'Revolutionizing Healthcare Diagnosis with High-Performance, Customizable, and Flexible Ultrasound.'
The core team consists of Hani, an experienced deep tech entrepreneur who has founded, operated and helped scale up several companies in MedTech and Robotics in the past, holding positions such as CEO, CTO, Head of Product and Strategy, and Principal Engineer. Carlos has ample knowledge in design, fabrication and characterization of ultrasound transducers and signal processing. Robert is the current director of the Institute of Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems (ICICS) at UBC. He is also the founder and CSO of SonicIncytes. Edmond is a professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at UBC. He has prolific experience in MEMS devices, circuit design, signal processing and control.
(L-R) Co-founders Edmond Cretu, Carlos Gerardo & Robert Rohling
We led the most recent financing in their $2.1M pre-seed round with participation from notable angel investors and early-stage funds. The company has raised more than $3M to date. Read more details in Aaron Weitzman’s article on Axios.
“Sonus Microsystems’ advanced imaging and sensing platform is poised to redefine the ultrasound landscape and unlock new remote monitoring applications in healthcare,” says Evan Nisselson, General Partner at LDV Capital. “We thrive on investing in people building cutting edge proactive healthcare solutions to hopefully improve people’s lives and deliver significant value.”
We look forward to helping Sonus Microsystems leverage our visual tech domain expertise and expert network as the only venture fund with a thesis of investing in people building businesses powered by visual technologies.
Join the team of innovative engineers, scientists and developers at Sonus to transform groundbreaking ideas into market-leading products, ensuring lasting impact and seizing significant growth opportunities.
This article was written in collaboration with Ash Cleary, an associate at LDV Capital.
