HEARTio secures seed funding to advance ECG-based cardiac diagnostics
HEARTio, a U.S. digital health startup focused on earlier detection of heart disease, has raised $4.25 million in seed funding to develop and validate its diagnostic platform, ECGio. The round included Bessel, VU Venture Partners, Intelligence Ventures, Audacious Capital and LifeX. The company said the capital will support clinical trials and work toward FDA clearance, positioning the technology for use in hospitals and clinics.
Targeting undiagnosed disease before symptoms appear
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the U.S., and many patients are not diagnosed until symptoms become severe. Among the estimated 6.7 million Americans living with heart failure, the company points to a large “silent” group in Pre-Heart Failure (Stage B), where structural damage may exist without obvious symptoms. Traditional pathways to confirm coronary artery disease often rely on costly imaging or invasive procedures such as catheterisation, typically deployed after risk is already apparent.
How ECGio aims to change the workflow
ECGio analyzes signals from a standard 12-lead ECG to identify patterns associated with coronary artery disease (CAD), including the potential presence, severity and location of blockages—without catheters, contrast dye or radiation. HEARTio describes the product as built to run on existing, widely deployed ECG hardware, using a “headless API” designed to minimize additional clinical workflow steps.
Leadership, motivation and competitive landscape
Utkars Jain co-founded HEARTio with Adam Butchy and Michael Leasure, and the company has added John Marous as Executive Chairman, with Jake Fisher and John Moran as co-Chief Commercialisation Officers. Jain has tied the company’s mission to personal experience with misdiagnosis in his family. The company cited peer-reviewed validation work, including studies published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology and JACC Advances.
Jain identified competitors ranging from CT-based CAD analysis platforms to ECG-driven software companies, while positioning HEARTio as complementary to parts of the market. The startup’s near-term goals include completing a pivotal study, submitting to the FDA, generating revenue and expanding into additional cardiac indications.
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