Agora Labs Receives 4.3 Million Euros for AI-Powered Use of Medical Data

The Italian deep tech startup Agora Labs has closed a funding round of 4.3 million euros. The round was led by venture capital investor P101. The company’s technology enables the use of sensitive patient data for medical research projects without the data having to leave the hospitals. The international network is now set to grow significantly.

The Italian healthtech company Agora Labs has secured 4.3 million euros in funding. The investment round is led by the Italian venture capital firm P101. Also participating is the Mussetto family of entrepreneurs, which is behind Infinite Five, a holding company specializing in marketing technology, data analysis, and robotics. Agora Labs plans to use the capital to accelerate its international expansion, hire new employees, and expand its network of medical facilities.

The company is developing a technological infrastructure that enables hospitals to make their clinical data available for scientific research. The focus is on combining artificial intelligence, decentralized data processing, and data protection.

Until now, medical information has often been scattered across different IT systems and stored in various formats. At the same time, data protection requirements make it difficult to exchange sensitive patient data between hospitals, research institutions, and pharmaceutical companies. Agora Labs is therefore adopting a model in which processing takes place directly within the respective healthcare facility.

Decentralized AI Aims to Facilitate Medical Research

The Agora Labs platform is based on local computing units installed directly in the connected hospitals. It uses graphics processing units from NVIDIA, which serves as the company’s technology partner.

Specialized large language models structure and standardize the existing clinical information. The data is then anonymized using mathematical methods. According to the company, these methods are designed to ensure the long-term protection of patient information.

A key component is what is known as federated learning. In this process, AI models are trained and validated decentralized on the datasets of individual hospitals. Only the corresponding model results and evaluations are exchanged between the facilities. The original patient data remains within the respective hospital.

This is intended to enable research organizations and pharmaceutical companies to conduct studies based on large international patient groups without centrally consolidating the underlying datasets.

The first use cases are already in place. In Italy, the technology is being used, among other things, to analyze hospital pharmacies and treatment processes. In Saudi Arabia, a project is underway that combines genetic, clinical, and radiological information to detect risks of complications from diabetes at an early stage.

International Clinical Network Set to Double

Agora Labs was founded in Rome by Davide Zaccagnini and Fabio Giulietto. Zaccagnini is a vascular surgeon and biomedical computer scientist who trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Giulietto brings a technical background as well as an MBA from Imperial College London.

The technology originally emerged from a European research project focused on the secure exchange of medical data. Following technical validation, the company launched its commercial operations in 2023.

According to the company, its international network now comprises 50 healthcare facilities. These include, among others, Harvard Medical School and San Raffaele Hospital in Milan. With the new funding, the number of affiliated facilities is expected to rise to 100 in the coming months.

At the same time, Agora Labs plans to expand into additional international markets, particularly the Middle East and India. In addition, the company plans to hire approximately 20 new employees in technical and commercial roles.

For P101, this investment represents another step in expanding its health tech portfolio. With Agora Labs, the investor now supports four companies in this sector. Health tech now accounts for more than 20 percent of the investments in its Program 103 investment program.

Agora Labs operates in the market for so-called real-world evidence—that is, medical insights derived from data collected in everyday healthcare settings. According to the market forecasts cited in the announcement, the global market size could grow from $5.4 billion in 2025 to $10.8 billion in 2030.

By expanding its network of clinics, Agora Labs aims to lay the groundwork for larger international research projects and support the development of data-driven diagnostic and treatment methods.