Rome's VoiceMed Pilots AI for Respiratory Disease
Rome-based healthtech startup VoiceMed is launching a pilot for the early detection of chronic respiratory diseases using AI, after reaching €1 million in total funding. The company's technology underscores a broader European trend of applying AI to diagnostics. This creates opportunities for Turkish founders to partner, co-develop, or license similar technologies across the continent.
- VoiceMed’s technology analyzes vocal biomarkers from a patient's breathing and voice recordings via a standard smartphone microphone. Its machine-learning models then derive metrics linked to respiratory functions to detect risk signals for conditions like Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and asthma. - The recent funding round was supported by a mix of public and private capital, including Invitalia, Italy's national agency for development, and private investors GCM Group, Padda Health, and 28Digital (formerly part of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology). - The capital is earmarked to accelerate clinical validation for its COPD home monitoring solutions in real-world settings and to finance its initial market entry activities. As of 2025, the company had already conducted five clinical studies in partnership with European hospitals to build its proprietary dataset. - The European market for AI-driven diagnostics includes other voice-based startups, such as Spain's Tucuvi, which received Class IIb medical device certification for its AI voice assistant that remotely monitors patients. This signals a regulatory pathway for similar technologies. - In the broader European healthtech AI landscape, which saw €4.42 billion in funding in Q1 2025 alone, companies like Netherlands-based Thirona are also targeting respiratory illness with deep learning software that analyzes chest CT scans. - Turkish startups are also applying AI to diagnostics; for example, Traick uses AI for the diagnosis of thyroid nodules. Another Turkish company is actively seeking international distributors for its AI and VR-based rehabilitation platform, indicating opportunities for cross-border partnerships. - Research validates this approach, with studies showing that AI assistance can improve the diagnostic accuracy of primary care clinicians for COPD by as much as 16%. AI is seen as a key tool to address the significant underdiagnosis of chronic respiratory diseases like asthma and COPD.
