Proscia closes $1 million seed round, hiring expected

Two-year-old health IT startup Proscia closed a $1 million seed round, CEO David West, Jr. said Monday.
The round was led by New York-based Emerald Development Managers. Also participating was TCP Venture Capital through its Propel Baltimore fund, A-Level Capital and Robin Hood Ventures. The oversubscribed round was initially targeted at $500,000, West said.
The company is looking to bring digital tools to the task of diagnosing cancer. In pathology, as the field is known, medical images of biopsies were long examined and analyzed by teams of doctors using slides and microscopes. Along with modernizing the process, making the images available digitally can expand the possibility for sharing across institutions, as well as open up the use of machine learning to assist in the diagnosis.
“They have a compelling pipeline of pathology solutions which will undoubtedly advance cancer diagnosis and treatment,” Neil Cohen, of Emerald Development Managers, said in a statement.
The four cofounders launched the company while attending Johns Hopkins. They decided to remain in Baltimore, and are all now focusing exclusively on the company. The Spark-based team recently hired two developers, and is also looking to accelerate efforts to bring on customers.
“One of the most important parts of this seed round is to bring on a director of sales and to really grow our sales,” West said.
The press release also hinted at a coming development partnership with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.