contextflow is a deep tech healthcare scale-up based in Vienna, Austria and a spin-off from the Medical University of Vienna. Focused on addressing critical healthcare challenges, the scale-up develops artificial intelligence solutions to support radiologists in clinical routines.
Last October, during the Scale 100 Forum, we spoke with Julie Sufana, contextflow's Chief Marketing Officer. We discussed the company's mission, their innovative technology, key achievements, and their experience as a member of the EIC Scaling Club.
You can also listen to the interview recording here (or watch the video below):
Healthcare systems across Europe face a growing dilemma. "Throughout Europe, we see a lot of lung cancer screening programs being a topic of discussion," Julie explains. "The issue is, do we have enough scanners as a society? Do we have enough personnel, and do we have enough radiologists to actually read those reports? And the answer is no."
This reality compounds existing pressures on medical imaging professionals. She adds:
"Radiologists are facing a lot of challenges globally, like shortages of staff, an ever-increasing amount of workload, and we want to reduce some of that burden for them."
contextflow's AI solutions directly address this gap by enabling faster, more accurate analysis of chest CT scans, helping detect conditions like lung cancer and interstitial lung diseases earlier and more efficiently.
When asked about the company’s strategic advantage, Julie cites the team’s tremendous expertise in AI, business management, and scientific knowledge. "Our founding team alone has combined over 450 peer-reviewed publications under their names. So a really strong, scientific-based foundation," says Julie.
contextflow is also distinguished by their comprehensive approach. Unlike many competitors that focus on detecting single conditions, contextflow's technology identifies multiple findings simultaneously, making their solution valuable to investors, healthcare providers, patients, and society at large:
"We are purposely attacking the three leading causes of premature deaths – lung cancer, interstitial lung disease, and heart disease."
Despite the excitement surrounding AI in healthcare, bringing these high-potential technologies to market involves numerous challenges. As Julie puts it: "There's a big gap between the hype and what's actually available on the market for use".
Scaling these technologies requires educating end users, developing viable business models, securing funding, and navigating complex regulatory requirements. "AI in radiology sounds very attractive to the outside world, but is actually very challenging to the people working in it," she adds.
Despite the challenges, there’s public and private interest in successfully tackling them. On the funding front, contextflow has raised more than €17 million to date through a combination of public and private investments, including support from the EIC fund.
However, as Julie explains, the biggest hurdles for AI in healthcare revolve around certification and unlocking market adoption through reimbursement, which is when an insurance company agrees to pay for a medical device. Here too, contextflow has been a forerunner.
"We were one of the first radiology AI software devices to receive our CE mark under the new MDRs," Julie shares, referring to the European Medical Device Regulation certification – a major achievement for an early-stage company.
More than that, in 2024, contextflow was accepted into Germany's "Healthy Hub," a consortium of public insurers supporting innovative healthcare technologies, paving the road to one of the company’s biggest achievements to date: securing Europe’s first AI radiology reimbursement contract.
Not only is this the start of a revolution in lung cancer screening in Germany, but marks a new era in AI healthcare in general.
contextflow joined the EIC Scaling Club with enthusiasm and clear objectives. The company seeks to leverage the program for investor connections, insights on upcoming regulations, and scale-up expertise to support its continued growth.
"We were very excited to join the EIC Scaling Club. What we're really hoping to get is access to investors, guidance from policy makers, as well as useful and relevant general knowledge to help us bring our technology to more radiologists and patients."
With regulatory approvals in place and their technology gaining recognition, contextflow is well-positioned as Europe increasingly focuses on lung cancer screening programs. Julie concludes simply: "At the end of the day, we are all patients, and we all want access to technologies that can save lives."
Watch the full interview with Julie Soufana below, or visit our YouTube channel to explore our other videos:
The EIC Scaling Club is a curated community where 120+ European deep tech scale-ups with the potential to build world-class businesses and solve major global challenges come together with investors, corporate innovators and other industry stakeholders to spur growth.
The top 120+ European deep tech companies will be carefully selected from a pool of high-growth scale-ups that have benefitted from EIC financial schemes, other European and national innovation programmes, and beyond.
The EIC Scaling Club is an EIC-funded initiative run in partnership by Tech Tour, Bpifrance (EuroQuity), Hello Tomorrow, Tech.eu (Webrazzi), EurA and IESE Business School.
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