A Perth technology startup backed by mining entrepreneur Kerry Harmanis has developed an artificial intelligence platform it believes can be applied to nearly any industry.
A Perth technology startup backed by mining entrepreneur Kerry Harmanis has developed an artificial intelligence platform it believes can be applied to nearly any industry.
Alerte Digital Health was established four years ago by chief executive Tony Fitzgerald and chief technology officer Razali Mohamad.
The evolution of its technology reflects the background of its team, which includes 15 engineers, mostly with masters degrees in mechatronics specialising in artificial intelligence and robotics.
Mechatronics combines mechanical, electrical and software engineering, with most of the team being graduates of the University of Melbourne, where Mr Razali completed his masters.
The engineers work in tandem with medical specialists, particularly in the field of cardiology.
While healthcare is a major focus, Alerte and its sister companies are targeting a much wider market.
“With the advent of AI, you have a new toolset to automate a lot of processes and work flows that you couldn’t automate before, and that’s across any industry,” Mr Razali said.
“The theme is to have a system that can recognise a pattern and then act upon it, whether it’s a signal generated from the heart or vibrations from a piece of machinery, the methodology is the same.”
With financial backing from Mr Harmanis, Andrew Chapman’s Merchant Group and other private investors, the company has focused on building its technology platform for the past four years.
“A lot of the work that’s been done is creating the infrastructure,” Mr Razali said.
The company’s commercial aim was to provide a service to medical device companies, which are looking to build an ongoing revenue stream from their customers.
“To actually have a useful application you can take out of the lab and into a mine site or a hospital, there is a lot of work to be done,” he said.
“We believe 2019 will be a breakout year in cardiac related applications.”
The company is aiming to have its first application registered with a regulator in September or October next year
Sister company Singulariti expects to have its first revenue-paying customer, a global gold miner, within six months.
Mr Razali expects commercial milestones during 2019 will be followed by a larger capital raising late next year.