Newble AI raises $269K seed to bring brain CT diagnosis to dementia market
What's the deal? Medical AI startup Newble AI has raised 400,000,000 KRW (about $269,060) in a seed round led by FuturePlay. The company will use the funding to commercialise BrainCura, which it describes as the world's first automated brain volume measurement solution based on CT scans.
What's the endgame? BrainCura uses CT images and AI to measure brain volume — a process previously only possible via MRI — to support diagnosis of degenerative brain diseases. Newble AI plans to commercialise it in the second half of 2027, expanding supply from university hospitals to health checkup centres and dementia care centres.
Who's behind it? The startup was co-founded by Sung-Jun Ahn, a radiology professor, and Ji-Hoon Kim, a medical physics professor, both at Gangnam Severance Hospital. "We have long experienced how long MRI wait times delay diagnosis," Ahn said, adding the team wants patients to get faster, more accurate results.
Why now? New dementia drugs such as Alzheimer's treatment lecanemab are driving demand for tools that screen eligible patients and monitor side effects during treatment. Newble AI aims to make BrainCura a core solution for that market.
What's next? After BrainCura, the company plans to launch SynCura, which synthesises MRI-level images from CT scans to speed up emergency diagnosis of conditions like acute stroke. The funding will also go toward regulatory approvals from Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the FDA, and CE, plus proof-of-concept trials and hiring.
The signal: As dementia therapies multiply, investors are backing diagnostic tools that make screening cheaper and faster. FuturePlay's Somi Kim said the firm rated BrainCura's commercialisation potential highly in "the rapidly growing dementia diagnosis and treatment market" — a bet that CT-based AI can widen access where MRI capacity falls short.
Read more: VentureSquare
