Exo intends to commercialize its handheld ultrasound device and a platform-based workflow solution.

Exo, a company developing a handheld ultrasound imaging device, announced today its $220 million Series C round led by RA Capital Management and joined by BlackRock, Sands Capital, Avidity Partners and Pura Vida Investments. Existing investors also participated in the round. (Vator)

The round brings up Exo’s total funding to more than $320 million.

Exo’s (pronounced Echo) invention seeks to fufil a crying need for cheap, easy-to-use and ubiquitous medical imaging. According to WHO statistics, between 75% and 80% of the world’s population has no access to any kind of medical imaging at all – chiefly due to the cost and complexity of machines currently available.

These factors also act as barriers to entry, because only well-capitalized and specialized centers can afford the imaging equipment – for example, ultrasound can range between $40,000 to $250,000. As a result, patients face high costs and may have to travel long distances to access the service.

Exo ultrasound

In contrast, Exo’s handheld ultrasound imaging device will  generate unrivaled image quality, definition and depth at an affordable cost. Yet it promises to be rugged, simple and intuitive to operate. Because it will use new materials, processes, and AI for manufacture, the device can be produced at scale and will “decentralize ultrasound” to make it available everywhere.

The device is backed by Exo’s proprietary point-of-care ultrasound workflow solution, Exo Works that solves workflow issues by streamlining exam review, documentation and billing in one platform — in under 60 seconds.

“Exo’s hardware and software were designed in tandem, with the future of decentralized healthcare at the forefront of every decision,” said Exo CEO Sandeep Akkaraju in a statement. “Our vision is a healthcare system unconstrained by the four walls of a hospital and engineered for a world where providers can see clearly into every patient immediately.”

“Emergency medicine will become so much more precise, swift, patient-focused and outcome-oriented as physicians are educated and empowered by intuitive handheld ultrasound devices that are at the ready for everything from traumatic injury diagnosis to nerve-block procedures,” said Arun Nagdev, MD, director of emergency ultrasound at Highland General Hospital and senior director of clinical education at Exo.

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