Olympus agrees to $80M takeover of artificial intelligence endoscopy startup Odin Vision

Dive Brief:

Olympus has struck a deal to buy artificial intelligence endoscopy startup Odin Vision for up to £66 million ($80 million) in upfront and milestone-based payments.
Odin is a London-based developer of Caddie and Cadu, cloud-based AI systems that are designed to help detect and characterize cancerous and precancerous tissues during colonoscopies and gastroscopies.
The acquisition furthers the strategy that Olympus outlined in 2019, when it set out plans to exit some of its businesses and increase focus on its endoscopic and therapeutic solutions units.

Dive Insight:

Founded by researchers from University College London in 2019, Odin has worked to integrate AI into the endoscopy suite to support clinical procedures such as colonoscopy and esophagogastroduodenoscopy. The work has resulted in technologies that are designed to address some of the challenges of detecting tissue that needs further investigation.

Even experienced colonoscopists can miss some polyps, small growths that in some cases may become cancerous, when evaluating patients. Caddie uses AI to highlight suspect tissue, improve the detection rate and thereby enable physicians to make more timely interventions to prevent and treat cancer.

Olympus has identified the technology as a good fit for its digital endosuite portfolio. Nacho Abia, chief operating officer at Olympus, outlined the motivation for the buyout in a statement to disclose the deal.

“Incorporating Odin Vision’s leading AI technology portfolio and innovation capabilities into the broader Olympus digital roadmap will create synergies that enable us to commercialize highly valuable endoscopy-focused software tools. Their product portfolio fits perfectly with our broader efforts to enhance the capabilities we bring in support of clinicians and to help care teams harness decision-driving data,” Abia said.

News of the takeover comes shortly after Olympus agreed to sell its microscope unit to a private equity company for $3.1 billion. The sale increased Olympus’ focus on the medtech industries.