What to know about the new Series C funding round and latest acquisition from Flywheel:
- Flywheel, a Minneapolis-based data management company, has secured a $22 million Series C funding round (with more expected in the near future)
- The round was led by 8VC with other participating investors including iSelect, Argonautic Ventures, Beringea, DrX/Novartis, HPE Pathfinder, Spike Ventures, Key Investments, Seraph, Great North Labs and others
- Flywheel also announced the acquisition of St. Louis-based Radiologics
- In a release, the company said the acquisition will allow for, “cross-platform data and algorithm interoperability, an accelerated roadmap of new features and tools, an expanded network with more opportunities for research collaboration, secure and compliant data discovery across a global network of opted-in innovators, and cloud-scalable and on-premise computational workflows for research and clinical applications”
- The two companies will operate under the Flywheel name
The Quote: Jim Olson, CEO of Flywheel
“Big data plays a pivotal role in healthcare innovation. And realizing the full potential of innovation requires better data management. The combined Flywheel and Radiologics capabilities uniquely enable increased collaboration among the brightest scientific and medical minds and the best data sets in the industry, making it possible for the smallest labs to collaborate with the largest academic medical centers and commercial enterprises. Our goal is to power accelerated R&D in oncology, radiology and other therapeutic areas where innovation is paramount and increasingly data-driven.”
For more information on the Series C and acquisition, read the releases below, and don’t miss our other Flywheel coverage.
MINNEAPOLIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Flywheel, the leading biomedical research data management platform, today announces a $22 million Series C funding round, with more financing expected in the coming weeks, as investors show continued confidence in the company’s growth and market impact.
The funding round is being led by 8VC, which is focused on building technology platforms that create long-term economic and societal value. Other investors include iSelect, Argonautic Ventures, Beringea, DrX/Novartis, HPE Pathfinder, Spike Ventures, Key Investments, Seraph, Great North Labs and others.
“We were impressed by the progress the Flywheel team has made in enabling digital transformation of life science data management. Their thoughtful infrastructure decisions have allowed them to expand into applications in AI development, data exchange, and federated learning. We are excited to lead the Series C funding to acquire Radiologics and further grow Flywheel’s infrastructure, as well as develop these application areas,” said Francisco Gimenez, Partner at 8VC.
The Series C funding supported Flywheel’s recent acquisition of Radiologics. By joining forces with Radiologics, Flywheel can now offer additional research workflow solutions and clinical applications to accelerate R&D and scientific discovery, plus an expanded global network of innovators with even more opportunities for biomedical research collaboration.
“We believe strongly that the future of R&D in life sciences will be rooted in collaboration and cross-border work,” said Craig Herron, Managing Partner at iSelect. “Not only does Flywheel’s platform enable researchers to tap the full power of their data to drive deeper insights, but the integration of Radiologics is helping to build on the collaborative potential of scientific discovery and support new breakthroughs that will impact all of our lives. We are excited to support Flywheel, as the company continues to grow and scale its services.”
Flywheel’s cloud-based data management platform enables researchers to accelerate discovery through streamlined data curation and management, automated pipelines for machine learning and analysis, and tools to ensure secure collaboration. With Flywheel’s platform in place, researchers across academic, clinical and life sciences organizations can transform productivity and accelerate innovation in imaging research, multicenter studies, AI development and clinical trials.
“We are incredibly excited about the opportunities ahead, as we accelerate the transformation of bioinformatics and research with the Flywheel platform. We are grateful for this support that can allow us to help more healthcare and research organizations focus on science and innovation, while relying on us to manage and curate their data and provide the analytical tools they need to truly accelerate discovery,” said Jim Olson, CEO, Flywheel.
About Flywheel
Flywheel is the revolutionary research data management platform powering healthcare innovation by accelerating collaboration, enabling machine learning, and streamlining the massive task of data aggregation, curation and management. By leveraging cloud scalability and automating research workflows, Flywheel helps organizations scale research data and analysis, improve scientific collaboration and accelerate discoveries. Flywheel offers comprehensive solutions for life sciences, pharmaceutical, biotech, academic, and clinical research. Flywheel is headquartered in Minneapolis and has offices in the Bay Area, St. Louis, and Budapest. For more information on our mission and products, visit www.flywheel.io or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
About 8VC
8VC is a leading technology investment firm investing in visionary teams and backing industry-transforming companies. The partners have a proven track-record as founders, engineers, and operators of successful companies including Palantir, Addepar, Affinity and OpenGov, among others. The predecessor firm Formation 8 was founded in 2012 and today, manages $1.1 billion in committed capital. 8VC was founded in 2016 and manages $2.4 billion in committed capital. 8VC invests primarily in smart enterprise platforms across industries including financial services, healthcare, logistics and others, and Bio-IT. For more information, please visit http://8vc.com.
MINNEAPOLIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Flywheel, the leading biomedical research data management platform, today announces the acquisition of St. Louis-based Radiologics. The two organizations’ combined capabilities in imaging research data management and analytics provide the medical research community unrivaled end-to-end research workflow solutions—from open source to global enterprise. Together, the two companies, now operating as Flywheel, offer the only biomedical research platform that can connect any organization or data set across academia, life sciences, clinical, and medical AI.
“Big data plays a pivotal role in healthcare innovation. And realizing the full potential of innovation requires better data management,” said Jim Olson, Flywheel CEO. “The combined Flywheel and Radiologics capabilities uniquely enable increased collaboration among the brightest scientific and medical minds and the best data sets in the industry, making it possible for the smallest labs to collaborate with the largest academic medical centers and commercial enterprises. Our goal is to power accelerated R&D in oncology, radiology and other therapeutic areas where innovation is paramount and increasingly data-driven.”
Flywheel will now offer:
Cross-platform data and algorithm interoperability.
An accelerated roadmap of new features and tools.
An expanded network with more opportunities for research collaboration.
Secure and compliant data discovery across a global network of opted-in innovators.
Cloud-scalable and on-premise computational workflows for research and clinical applications.
“Together, we’re going to help speed the development of clinical trials, get to discovery faster, and reduce wasted time and resources along the way. We understood the tremendous opportunity to bring together Flywheel’s and Radiologics’ expertise for the advancement of medical research,” said Dan Marcus, PhD, Radiologics CEO, who will take on the role of Chief Scientific Officer at Flywheel. “I’m thrilled that our combined company will continue to serve the research community through open source and enterprise informatics solutions.”
“I am incredibly excited about the news that Flywheel and Radiologics are joining forces. This opens up a lot of opportunities for our MRI Unit and Department of Psychiatry to more seamlessly collaborate with other departments at Columbia, as well as outside the institution,” said Rachel Marsh, PhD, Irving Philips Professor of Medical Psychology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and Director of the MRI Research Program at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. “I look forward to being able to access the combined expertise of both Flywheel and Radiologics and to being part of their extensive network of researchers who can now more easily work together on a common platform to drive faster discovery.”
In addition to Flywheel’s cloud-based research data platform, the company will offer original Radiologics products and services—a full range of imaging informatics services around the XNAT platform, including consulting, technical support, software development, custom image processing pipelines, and staffing solutions.
“At the end of the day, we’re here to take care of the data, so researchers can focus on what matters most—science, innovation and creating life-changing therapies,” added Olson.
About Flywheel
Flywheel is the revolutionary research data management platform powering healthcare innovation by accelerating collaboration, enabling machine learning, and streamlining the massive task of data aggregation, curation and management. By leveraging cloud scalability and automating research workflows, Flywheel helps organizations scale research data and analysis, improve scientific collaboration and accelerate discoveries. Flywheel offers comprehensive solutions for life sciences, pharmaceutical, biotech, academic, and clinical research. Flywheel is headquartered in Minneapolis and has offices in the Bay Area, St. Louis, and Budapest. For more information, visit www.flywheel.io or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
