Aiforia lands €20 million in venture debt financing from EIB

Aiforia has signed a €20 million venture debt financing agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB). The funding will support the further development of the company’s AI-powered platform, designed to support pathologists in digital tissue analysis (digital pathology), notably for the detection of tumours. The software examines ultra-high-resolution images of biopsy samples to identify cancer cells with high precision and speed. The EIB financing is supported under the European Commission’s InvestEU programme.

“Our continent is working to remain competitive, and we need to support the companies that make that possible.” said EIB Vice-President Karl Nehammer. “From healthcare to digital life sciences, Europe must have the best technologies developed in-house to protect and care for its citizens. The solutions developed by Aiforia strengthen Europe’s competitiveness, while giving an innovative EU company the opportunity to succeed on the global stage.”

"We are pleased that the negotiations have led to the signing of a binding financing agreement.” says Jukka Tapaninen, CEO of Aiforia. “The EIB venture debt financing strengthens Aiforia's financial position and supports the implementation of our strategy. With this financing, we can accelerate product development, expand our commercial operations internationally, and advance our goal of improving patient care through AI-powered image analysis solutions."

”This initiative under InvestEU is particularly welcome to Finland as it foments synergies of the Finnish high-tech clusters” added Elina Laurinen, Head of the European Commission Representation in Finland.

Aiforia plans to use the financing to accelerate its product development projects related to existing and new image analysis solutions, as well as to boost its commercial operations. The financing is divided into three tranches, with a first tranche of €5 million. Drawing each tranche necessitates achieving the revenue and other interim targets defined in the financing agreement. Aiforia and the EIB have also agreed on a synthetic warrant arrangement, which does not cause immediate share dilution for Aiforia's existing shareholders.

Source: EIB; Photo: Aiforia