PARIS, Nov. 18, 2025 -- AI-Stroke, a French MedTech startup developing an "AI neurologist" to accelerate pre-CT stroke triaging, today announced the completion of a $4.6 million seed round led by Heka, the BrainTech-focused vehicle of Newfund VC, with participation from prominent angel investors and Bpifrance.
The funds will support AI-Stroke's upcoming FDA regulatory pathway and multi-site clinical studies across leading U.S. stroke centers.
Founded in 2022 by engineers, physicians, and former investors, AI-Stroke works to turn any smartphone or tablet into a rapid stroke-assessment tool. Paramedics or triage nurses record a 30-second video; the AI analyzes facial symmetry, arm movement, and speech to detect stroke signs within seconds — before hospital CT imaging.
Built on the world's largest clinically annotated stroke-video dataset — 20,000 videos and 6 million images — AI-Stroke's system detects 2 times more true stroke cases in a study with 2,000 EMS personnel. Fully compatible with U.S. pre-hospital protocols such as FAST and CPSS, adoption will be seamless.
AI-Stroke also welcomed 4 world-renowned stroke experts to its Medical Advisory Board:
- Dr. Gregory W. Albers, Director of the Stanford Stroke Center & Co-founder of RapidAI
- Prof. Gary Ford, Oxford University Hospitals & NICE (UK), co-developer of the FAST test
- Dr. Sean Savitz, Director, Institute for Stroke and Cerebrovascular Disease, UTHealth Houston (Texas Medical Center)
- Dr. Pankajavalli Ramakrishnan, neurointervention specialist, Westchester Medical Center Health Network (New York)
"This round strengthens our mission to equip every ambulance and emergency department with AI-driven neurological support," said Cédric Javault, CEO of AI-Stroke. "By shortening the time to treatment, we can save more lives and improve outcomes worldwide." Simon Jiafeng Li, Chief Business Officer, added: "With new funds and this distinguished advisory team on board, we're ready to make AI-powered stroke detection a new standard of care." Constant Beroulle, Investor at Newfund Heka, commented: "AI-Stroke delivers a smart, easy-to-adopt solution to a critical, yet underserved medical need — the pre-hospital triaging of stroke. We're proud to back the team as they scale internationally and bring their technology to the U.S. market."
About AI-Stroke:
AI-Stroke SAS is a Software-as-a-Medical-Device (SaMD) company developing the world's first AI neurologist for pre-hospital stroke triage.
Contact Details:
Simon Jiafeng LI, Chief Business Officer, inquiries@ai-stroke.com.
www.ai-stroke.com
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