Ambroise Fayolle
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a venture debt loan of €15 million to support health-tech start-up Smart Reporting during its growth phase. The Munich-based company has developed medical documentation technology based on artificial intelligence (AI) that makes it possible to efficiently collect, structure and process clinical data.
Software facilitates the medical documentation process and allows for better evaluation of the data collected in hospitals and medical practices.
The EIB venture debt loan is backed by a guarantee under the European Union’s InvestEU Programme.
The voice-controlled, AI-supported diagnostic software for radiology, pathology and other clinical areas can thus make a decisive contribution to the digitalisation of healthcare.
With this fresh capital, Smart Reporting plans to expand its leading tech position, tap into new markets and further scale up its software and data business.
The financing is backed by the InvestEU Programme, which provides investment partners with EU budget guarantees to increase their risk capacity and mobilise public and private investment. The EIB venture debt loan is a form of finance that meets the needs of fast-growing, innovative companies. Venture debt loans supplement existing venture capital financing without diluting the shares of the founders.
Smart Reporting’s technology can be used to produce fully evaluable and machine-readable results that, in radiology and pathology, are already reducing time to diagnosis, improving diagnostic quality, automating manual processes and easing communication with referring physicians, thereby helping to optimise patient care.
Previously, doctors spent up to 40% of their working hours on documentation. Only 3% of the data collected in hospitals can be evaluated later for other purposes, for example for medical research. The Smart Reporting technology is already being integrated by major medical device manufacturers like Siemens.
Its centrepiece is a language-controlled, guideline-based documentation tool that is integrated into the medical workflow. It supports radiologists and pathologists in real time during medical examinations, with AI, automated image analysis and high-quality machine-readable data.
Ambroise Fayolle
EIB Vice-President responsible for financing in Germany
Prof. Wieland Sommer
Smart Reporting founder and Co-CEO
Peter Vanovertveld
Co-CEO Smart Reporting
Background information
The EIB is the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to further EU policy goals. The EIB’s key priorities are climate and the environment, development, innovation and skills, small and medium-sized businesses, infrastructure and cohesion. It works closely with other EU institutions to foster European integration, promote the European Union’s development and support EU policies in more than 140 countries worldwide.
The InvestEU Programme provides the European Union with long-term funding by leveraging substantial private and public funds in support of a sustainable economy. It helps generate additional investments in line with EU policy priorities, such as the European Green Deal, the digital transition and support for small and medium-sized businesses. InvestEU brings all EU financial instruments together under one roof, making funding for investment projects in Europe simpler, more efficient and more flexible. The programme consists of three components: the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub and the InvestEU Portal. The InvestEU Fund is implemented through financial partners who invest in projects thanks to an EU budget guarantee of €26.2 billion. This guarantee increases their risk-bearing capacity, thus mobilising at least €372 billion in additional investment.
Smart Reporting was founded in 2014 by Wieland Sommer, Professor of Radiology with a Master's in Public Health (Harvard, US). The company was established in Munich with the vision of harnessing the value of medical data for better decision-making and treatment. Today, it has an interdisciplinary team of 70 doctors, data scientists and software engineers who develop software from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Brazil based on their detailed understanding of clinical workflows. The company's multilingual software for structured diagnostics in radiology and pathology is used by more than 15 000 physicians in over 90 countries. Smart Reporting was advised on this financing arrangement by Goetzpartners.