Vara funding news – Berlin-based Vara Secures $8.9 Million in Funding

Since its initial deployment in 2019, Vara has demonstrated remarkable success within the German National Breast Cancer Screening Program. Today, nearly 40% of breast cancer screening in Germany is managed on Vara's AI platform, the only AI system deployed at scale in the program.

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Aim of the company

It is furthering its expansion into emerging healthcare markets, including India. The company began a partnership with NM Medical a leading provider of imaging services in Mumbai, Bangalore, and Pune, in 2023.

The collaboration aims to elevate the standard of preventive care and early breast cancer detection in India with a focus on mammography as a cornerstone of women’s health programs.

Jonas Muff, CEO of Vara, stated, "This raise which is particularly significant in today's economic climate, not only validates our technology but enables us to accelerate Vara’s expansion for global impact. We're extremely pleased with the outcomes we're already seeing with our partners in healthcare, and we look forward to sharing more progress soon."

Ute Mercker, Investment Director at IBB Ventures said, "The financing round was co-led by the impact funds of IBB Ventures. By combining an AI-driven screening approach with proven medical evidence and commercialization in emerging markets, Vara is an excellent fit for the goals of our impact fund, Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women. We hope that by bringing this innovative screening to market in India, Vara will be able to increase survival rates and improve the quality of life of women.”

In addition to its latest funding, it recently published a study, “Strategies for integrating artificial intelligence into mammography screening programmes: a retrospective simulation analysis” with The Lancet Digital Health.

The study evaluated the integration of AI into mammography screening using nearly two million datasets from the UK, Sweden, and Germany, and found significant improvements in all key screening parameters including improvement in cancer detection rates, reduction in recall rates, and workload reductions for radiologists.

About Vara

Vara is a healthcare technology company revolutionizing breast cancer screening with AI, founded in 2018 by Jonas Muff, CEO and Stefan Bunk, CTO. Headquartered in Berlin, Germany with offices in India, Vara's AI-powered software enhances accuracy and efficiency in breast cancer detection, identifying 43% more cancers that radiologists might miss while reducing their workload by up to 73%.