Malaria is a mosquito-borne parasitic disease which affects millions worldwide, especially in tropical areas where the insects breed more extensively.  Although treatable, if not properly detected, malaria can lead to severe complications, such as respiratory problems, renal failure, stillbirths and even patient death.

To date, the most common diagnostic tool is microscopic examination of blood samples, but these tests require a great deal of training to conduct properly and suffer from human error.  The alternative is the antigen-based Rapid Diagnostic Test, but that can also be unreliable and provide incomplete information.

Israeli startup SightDx wants to change that. They are “a medical device company developing a novel computer vision platform for blood analysis.”  Combining expertise in the fields of computer hardware, software and biology, SightDx’s goal is to deliver the fastest, most accurate diagnosis possible.

The Parasight platform is SightDx’s flagship product.  According to the company, “it identifies, enumerates and speciates malaria more accurately than all other currently used diagnostics tools.”

Since malaria can be caused by any of five strains of the parasite, it is important for doctors to quickly identify which species is infecting a patient.  This will help determine the best, most effective treatment for the illness and reduce unnecessary use of incorrect medication, which can lead to the development of resistant strains.

According to the company website, “Our first application is a low-cost, highly accurate and rapid test for malaria detection. We have developed a patented staining solution that is quickly identified by our machine learning algorithm. After over two years of in-house, field testing and clinical trials, we are currently in the final stages of bringing our  device to market in the Indian pathology lab chain market.”

The test requires a small sample of the patient’s blood, which is transferred to a custom disposable cartridge.  The blood is combined with a patented stain and the computer reads the slide, comparing it to a large library of both healthy and diseased samples, to obtain a diagnosis.  The entire process takes about two minutes and has a startling accuracy rate of 99.4 percent.  The test is also highly sensitive, even at low levels of infection.

SightDx got its start with the help of OurCrowd, an equity-based crowdfunding platform that focuses on Israeli startups.  According to Zack Miller, head of OurCrowd’s investor community, “OurCrowd is the world’s biggest equity crowdfunding platform, offering individuals a better way to invest in the best Israeli and global startups.”

“We are looking for investments that will be profitable for investors on our platform while highlighting Israeli innovation. Investments that can help rid the world of one of the worst diseases, like SightDx does with malaria, really demonstrates the true power of Israel, the Startup Nation.”

OurCrowd differs from other familiar entities, such as Kickstarter, in that it is not donation-based. Instead, OurCrowd’s investors take an active equity stake in the companies they invest in. Investors from all around the world looking to invest in Israel’s Startup Nation are now able to tap into the best Israeli innovation has to offer.

Learn how you can share in the success of companies like SightDx by joining OurCrowd’s investor community.