The Spanish healthcare technology company Savana, which started its operations in 2014, has received a $25m investment in a round involving Knuru Capital, Conexo Ventures, Aldea Ventures and two other repeat investors: Seaya Ventures and Cathay Innovation.

The Madrid-based business uses the data that hospitals routinely collect and store to improve research and build predictive models. These unstructured and isolated data become a valuable tool to personalise treatments through the application of artificial intelligence and big data algorithms, thereby improving the efficiency of medicines.

Optimising research
The application of artificial intelligence unlocks key information hidden in the free text of clinical notes. The Spanish company claims that it has already extracted over 2 billion medical records, thanks to its technology, from more than 200 hospitals in Western Europe and America. Analysis of this information will help to optimise research and development of new drugs.

With the new investment, the company plans to expand its footprint into drug research. The capital will enable it to increase its analytical capacity with the introduction of new data layers (genomics, biomolecular and imaging) and to address new sources of information, such as those generated during clinical trials.

Savana also wants to consolidate its presence in America and Western Europe, having expanded into the United States thanks to the $15 million investment received in the previous Series B round.

Generate evidence
Savana CEO and co-founder, Jorge Tello, says: "We want to reinvent the way clinical research is conducted. We have created the concept and processes for generating evidence by using AI applied to medical records. Now is the time to take our capabilities into the R&D area as we expand our services in the geographies in which we operate."

Dubai-based fund Knuru Capital is targeting high-growth by transforming technology businesses in the Arabian Peninsula, Africa and Southern Europe. 

^{Photo: Savana}