Newsroom

Prenuvo, a pioneer in advanced, radiation-free whole body imaging for early detection of cancer and other diseases, today announced that it has raised $70M in Series A equity and debt funding led by Felicis, with participation from existing investors including Tony Fadell, NYT bestseller author and founder of Nest; Dr. Timothy A. Springer, Lasker award recipient; Anne Wojcicki, CEO of 23&Me; Steel Perlot, with Eric Schmidt as chairman; entrepreneur Rande Gerber; and wellness investor, supermodel, and actress, Cindy Crawford. The funding will be used to invest in the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) team, new radiology tools, custom advanced MRI builds, and national expansion.

With Prenuvo, people and their doctors can reveal health problems early, if there are any, and gain peace of mind, if there are not. The company offers radiation-free, full-body MRI scans that are faster, less costly, and more intelligent than traditional methods, which can be prohibitively expensive and take three to four hours to complete. Using cutting-edge software and proprietary AI technology, a single Prenuvo scan covers 26 regions and organs of the body in under one hour. With high clinical diagnostic quality, it can screen for and diagnose more than 500 conditions – including most solid tumors at Stage 1 – at a fraction of the cost of traditional MRI screenings.

The company has grown in revenue by 240% year-over-year and is scaling quickly, with seven current clinics – including newly opened Santa Monica and Boca Raton locations – and plans to launch additional locations over the next year, in cities including New York City, Chicago, Boston, and Bethesda.

“The current healthcare system is reactive. For many, health information comes too late, once a disease or condition has progressed, has symptoms, and is more difficult and expensive to treat,” said Andrew Lacy, founder and CEO of Prenuvo. “Our series A financing is validation of Prenuvo’s mission to catch conditions before they become crises and transform the healthcare approach as we know it to one that is rooted in proactive health.”

Research by Healthy People, a federal program administered by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), found that preventive health screenings and primary care consultations can significantly increase life expectancy, particularly among the 30-to 49-year age group, yet only 8% of U.S. adults receive appropriate preventive healthcare services each year. Incorporating whole-body MRI scans into the healthcare routine could help provide a comprehensive baseline health profile to monitor changes over time.

“The typical physical hasn’t evolved in decades and lacks predictive power. Prenuvo gives patients unparalleled clarity and control,” added Dr. Raj Attariwala, co-founder and radiologist at Prenuvo. “Not only can patients make better-informed decisions about their health, but doctors can also make more accurate treatment or monitoring plans with technology that can measure changes that are simply invisible to the naked eye. We’re making powerful health insights more readily available to anyone at any time.”

Prenuvo clinics redefine the imaging experience. Scans are spacious and allow patients to relax, watch a show on flatscreen TVs or listen to music for the duration. Trained radiologists read the images and results are delivered to patients and their doctors – along with next steps – through the user-friendly Prenuvo web and mobile app.

“Everyone knows someone who has had cancer or has been surprised by a late-stage diagnosis. Prenuvo has a new vision for a world where fewer people will have to face this hard reality,” said Sundeep Peechu, General Partner and founding member at Felicis. “It’s an honor to support a company that is advancing patient health empowerment in this way.”

About FelicisFounded in 2006, Felicis is a venture capital firm investing in companies reinventing core markets, as well as those creating frontier technologies. Felicis focuses on early stage investments and currently manages over $2.1B in capital across 8 funds. The firm is an early backer of more than 41 companies valued at $1B+. More than 91 of its portfolio companies have been acquired or gone public, including Adyen (IPO), Credit Karma (acq by Intuit), Cruise (acq by General Motors), Fitbit (IPO), Guardant Health (IPO), Meraki (acq by Cisco), Ring (acq by Amazon), and Shopify (IPO). The firm is based in Menlo Park, CA. Learn more at www.felicis.com.

ContactsAllison+Partnersprenuvo@allisonpr.com

Vancouver-based Prenuvo, a pioneer in faster, more accurate whole-body MRI scanning, has obtained 1.8 million dollars from BDC Capital’s Growth & Transition Capital division to open a new clinic in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States. Prenuvo was founded in 2018 when Dr. Raj Attariwala, a radiologist and nuclear medicine physician with a PhD in biomedical engineering, partnered with experienced tech entrepreneur Andrew Lacy to commercialize the advanced whole-body MRI scanning technology that he had developed over the previous decade. This technology enables diagnostic scans of the whole body to be taken by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a fraction of the time of traditional MRIs and with much greater accuracy. In one 60-minute session, Prenuvo is able to detect any solid tumour at stage 1 and 400 other medical conditions, making it possible for patients to receive treatment sooner, which can in turn lead to better outcomes while reducing overall medical costs. The company has ambitious plans to expand its services to multiple cities across the world and hopes that the technology will eventually be integrated into public healthcare systems.

The San Francisco Bay Area clinic is its first foray outside of Canada. BDC Capital’s non-dilutive financing was used to undertake the construction of the new facility which has recently opened. It comes as a patient mezzanine loan that features a full balloon payment of the principal and a personalized return structure intended to free up more of the company’s working capital over the term. It was designed to grant Prenuvo more flexibility to pursue the growth of its business in the near future.

“Developing a transformational health technology is difficult at the best of times, even more so when the innovation is developed outside of traditional VC hotbeds like the Silicon Valley,” says Andrew Lacy, CEO of Prenuvo. “Without our partnership with BDC Capital this expansion at this speed would not have been possible – delaying what we believe is a transformative approach to healthcare that can positively impact millions of lives.”

This financing was arranged by Kyle Duignan, Director, Growth & Transition Capital at BDC Capital’s Vancouver office. “The calibre of Prenuvo’s founding team in terms of medical, technical and entrepreneurial expertise is simply exceptional, which gives the company a very strong start,” says Duignan. “This made-in-Canada innovation can save a great many lives, and reduce healthcare costs at the same time, which makes us believe in the potential for its exponential adoption in the coming years.”

About PrenuvoPrenuvo is an ambitious preventative health company that has pioneered the use of advanced MRI to proactively screen for cancer and disease. Based on 10 years of clinical research, Prenuvo can detect solid tumours at Stage 1 and over 400 other health conditions, leading to much better health outcomes for its patients. Prenuvo operates preventative screening clinics in Vancouver and Silicon Valley. Contact us at prenuvo.com.

About BDC CapitalBDC Capital is the investment arm of BDC, the bank for Canadian entrepreneurs. With over $3 billion under management, BDC Capital serves as a strategic partner to the country’s most innovative firms. It offers businesses a full spectrum of capital, from seed investments to growth equity, supporting Canadian entrepreneurs who have the ambition to stand out on the world stage. Visit bdc.ca/capital.