Benchmark invests $19M in New Lantern, a smarter way for radiologists to use AI
Shiva Suri gained a unique perspective into how radiologists work when he quarantined and shared a home office with his mom, a well-regarded radiologist.
“I watched her work day in and day out, and she was wasting about seven to eight hours on boring workflow tasks,” Suri said. “Only 5% of her time, she had her radiology thinking cap on. That was really sad.”
So, Suri, who was an engineer at big data analytics company Confluent at the time, built New Lantern, a startup that automates tedious radiology-related tasks like making 3D measurements on scans and report writing.
Suri (pictured above, lower center) noticed that his mom’s workday revolved primarily around two software systems: PACS, or the digital library of medical images where doctors view scans; and the reporting software where she would translate those images into actionable diagnoses.
Switching between tools felt unnecessarily clunky, so New Lantern combined these tools into one platform.
Eric Vishria, a general partner at Benchmark, said that he’s looked at other startups working on AI-powered radiology but most focused on image analysis. He passed on those others, in part because the technology isn’t really ready to replace human radiologists.
For years, it’s been predicted that AI would make radiologists obsolete. But instead, there’s a shortage of these professionals.
Suri’s realization was that instead of using AI to analyze images, AI can help with the drudgery “and let the doctor do what doctors enjoy doing and are really good at, which is reading the scans,” Vishria said.
New Lantern claims that its software can significantly enhance radiologists’ efficiency, enabling them to complete twice as many cases in the same time frame.
“That’s what got me really excited about it,” Vishria said.
On Wednesday, New Lantern announced that it raised a $19 million Series A led by Benchmark.
New Lantern’s goal is to replace and modernize how radiologists work not only with the help of AI but also by ensuring that all data is stored in the cloud.
Some vendors of PACS, which stands for Picture Archiving and Communication System, are still hosted on-prem, according to Suri.
The incumbent providers of PACS are GE Healthcare and Philips. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s Nuance dominates reporting software, but Rad AI, a Khosla Ventures-backed AI-first company, told TechCrunch that it has gained significant market share.
However, New Lantern has big plans to completely disrupt radiology software with its product.
“Twenty-five years ago, we made the switch from [physical] film to PACS,” Suri said. “We want to be the biggest evolution of the market since PACS was invented.”
Suri declined to discuss customers, but he did say that some radiology practices are already using the company’s product.
One thing is clear: His mom is certainly a fan of New Lantern.
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