AI Diagnostics Raises R85m for Ostium TB Stethoscope

In Short

AI Diagnostics has raised R85 million in pre-Series A funding to scale its Ostium digital stethoscope for tuberculosis screening. AI Diagnostics says the device helps frontline health workers spot TB risk earlier.

What Happened

The Cape Town health tech startup is deploying Ostium, a digital stethoscope paired with its AI.TB software. The software uses an AI model, meaning a system trained on data to spot patterns, to analyse lung sounds in real time and flag readings linked to TB.

The round was led by The Steele Foundation for Hope. iFSP Group and the Global Innovation Fund participated, and early backers Africa Health Ventures and Savant added follow-on funding.

AI Diagnostics says Ostium is designed for community health workers, nurses, and pharmacists. These are often the first point of care in high-burden communities, where access to specialist equipment can be limited.

Why It Matters

TB screening often starts with symptoms, but that misses many cases. A national TB prevalence survey in South Africa found 58% of people who tested positive reported no symptoms.

The company is targeting a workflow where a patient is screened quickly, then referred for confirmatory testing if the AI flags risk. Confirmatory testing is the lab or clinic test that verifies a TB diagnosis.

AI Diagnostics has approval from the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority and has screened more than 1,000 patients locally. It is also running clinical research across more than 10 countries in Africa and Asia.

What The Money Will Fund

The startup plans to spend the capital on clinical validation, improving the hardware and AI model, and building operations to scale across sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia. While the first focus is TB, it is also exploring screening for other lung and heart conditions.