Salesforce CEO Adds to Investment in Diagnostic Imaging Company

Zebra Medical Vision, an Israeli startup that uses machine learning to teach computers to read and diagnose imaging data, raised 12 million in its latest funding round, including a re-investment from Salesforce.com Inc. co-founder Marc Benioff. Zebra has been building a database of millions of files such as CT-scans and MRIs of real patients over the past three years, offering enough data so that machines can learn to accurately detect illnesses including breast cancer, and health problems with bones, the liver and lungs, said President and co-founder Eyal Gura. Company developers are writing specific algorithms for each health issue and three have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to Gura. The company says its product can help the medical industry deal with a growing shortage of radiologists amid more chronic diseases, an aging population and an expanding middle class seeking more advanced health care. According to the World Bank, the middle class in low and middle income countries will jump from 5 percent in 2005 to 25 percent in 2030.