The National Reconstruction Fund has taken a $32 million stake in Harrison.ai to help keep the Sydney AI medical startup in Australia.

The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC), the independent entity created by the federal government to oversee its $15 billion manufacturing fund, announced on Wednesday that it had made a $32 million equity investment in Harrison.ai.

Harrison.ai is an Australian tech firm that offers AI technology that can review CT scans and x-rays and assist in the detection and diagnosis of medical conditions.

The Commonwealth funding, part of the company’s Series C round, will go towards the expansion of Harrison.ai’s suite of technology and ensure the company remains in Australia and is not lured overseas, NRFC chair Martijn Wilder said.

“The NRFC’s investment in Harrison.ai will ensure that the company continues to base its operations in Australia,” Wilder said.

“It will also enable Harrison.ai’s continued growth and global expansion, and provide employment opportunities for Australian engineers, clinical AI experts and research professionals.”

Keeping the tech local

Harrison.ai’s technology can help detect cases of cancer and other illnesses more quickly and accurately, Wilder said.

“There is currently a severe global shortage of radiologists and pathologists, resulting in significant diagnostic delays that can have life-threatening consequences for patients,” he said.

“Harrison.ai’s technology provides medical professionals with a powerful tool to detect and diagnose medical conditions quickly and accurately, alleviating pain and saving lives.

“Through its diagnostics capabilities, Harrison.ai demonstrates the incredible possibilities that AI and other advanced technologies that have been developed in Australia enable for improving health outcomes around the world.”

Harrison.ai’s technology can detect up to 124 findings on chest x-rays, and up to 130 findings on non-contrast head CTs.

The technology is being used in more than 1,000 healthcare facilities worldwide.

Minister for Industry and Science, Ed Husic, said the technology developed by Harrison.ai will save lives.

“This is an Australian success story that will continue to operate in Australia thanks to the NRF's investment, growing our medical and Al capabilities, he said.

“This is what we want to see more of – brilliant Aussie know-how creating thriving world-beating businesses.”

With the funding, Harrison.ai will also look to expand into more hospitals and healthcare facilities in Australia and overseas.

“We are grateful to receive this investment from the NRF, which we see as an endorsement of the impact Harrison.ai is having in revolutionising healthcare through AI,” Harrison.ai co-founder and CEO Dr Aengus Tran said.

“We believe Australia has the potential to lead in clinical AI globally.

“This investment empowers Harrison.ai to further our commitment to improving patient outcomes and accelerate adoption of our market-leading solutions in Australia and internationally.”

Privacy concerns

Harrison.ai faced controversy last year when concerns were raised regarding its partnership with Australia’s largest radiology chain and claims that the private medical information of patients had been used to train AI models, potentially without their consent.

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner launched preliminary inquiries after Crikey first reported that I-Med Radiology had transferred hundreds of thousands of patient medical scans to Harrison.ai after partnering with the startup in 2019.

Harrison.ai has said that all data it uses to train AI models is de-identified, and that the company takes “patient safety and data privacy very seriously”, and that the data “cannot be re-identified”.

The NRF has now invested more than $130 million in five companies since its first funding announcement in November.

This includes $22.5 million in Canberra-based data centre Vault Cloud and $13 million in local quantum firm Quantum Brilliance.

Earlier this week the NRFC announced that David Gall had been appointed as its new CEO.

Gall has had a 35-year career in the corporate, commercial and retail banking sectors, including 16 years as NAB’s group executive for corporate and institutional banking.