THAT MASSIVE MRI machine at the hospital that can look for damage inside your knee? It’s not just enormous. It’s enormously complex and expensive. And operating the thing takes not only time but expertise. The same goes for the ultrasound machine that a provides a look at your unborn baby. But entrepreneur Jonathan Rothberg says it doesn’t have to be this way.
Rothberg just announced $100 million in funding for his three-year-old startup, Butterfly Network, that hopes to create a new handheld medical-imaging device that can make both MRI and ultrasounds significantly cheaper and more efficient. The aim is even to automate much of the medical imaging process, and in a little over a year, if all goes according to plan, the device could be ready for deployment in clinics, retail pharmacies, and in poorer regions of the world.