Nokia and Celesta Capital have launched Astranu, a start-up spin-out company specialising in healthcare imaging technology for hearing.

The spin-out from Nokia Bell Labs will commercialise healthcare imaging technology and marks the first Nokia-Celesta collaboration that aims to create a pipeline of spin-outs from Nokia technologies.

Astranu’s technology delivers a performant, cost-effective imaging system for rapid and accurate 3D imaging of middle-ear conditions and hearing response.

Astranu leverages proprietary integrated optical coherence tomography (iOCT) developed by Nokia Bell Labs and aims to transform ear diagnostic care through non-invasive, high-resolution 3D imaging. The iOCT technology brings high performance imaging into a cost-effective OCT system, providing instant, high-accuracy imaging of middle-ear conditions and hearing response. This has the potential to address critical healthcare gaps by helping reduce incidences of misdiagnosis, unnecessary referrals, and reliance on costly and invasive exploratory surgery and imaging techniques such as CT and MRI scans.

Healthcare technology executive Trevor Hawkins has joined Astranu (www.astranu.com) as CEO, bringing decades of scaling healthcare and diagnostic start-ups. IOCT co-inventors Michael Eggleston and Bibek Samanta, who incubated and developed the technology to commercial readiness at Nokia Bell Labs, will support Astranu in this next phase.

The Nokia Bell Labs (www.nokia.com/bell-labs) research arm will continue to support Astranu with laboratory resources and R&D expertise.

“Astranu reflects Nokia Bell Labs’ approach and commitment to nurturing ground-breaking innovations from early-stage research through commercialisation,” said Mike Chen, vice president of ventures at Nokia (www.nokia.com). “Astranu’s revolutionary imaging technology holds transformative promise for healthcare, and we’re proud to support their journey.”

Celesta Capital’s involvement brings direction, commercialisation support and industry networks vital for rapid market adoption of Astranu’s technology.

“We are excited to partner with Nokia in spinning out Astranu, which represents the ideal convergence of innovative technology and high impact healthcare applications,” said Sriram Viswanathan, founding managing partner at Celesta Capital (celesta.vc). “Celesta’s experience in scaling deep technology ventures uniquely positions us to help Astranu navigate the complex dynamics of establishing and scaling a successful technology business.”

Achin Bhowmik, chief technology officer for hearing technology company Starkey (www.starkey.com), will join the company’s board of directors.

“Astranu’s imaging technology offers the potential to deliver high-resolution insights at the point of care,” said Bhowmik. “I look forward to supporting the company’s journey and helping explore ways this technology can advance patient outcomes.”