Butterfly Network recently launched an AI tool that can provide medical practitioners with an accurate B-line count from just a six-second lung ultrasound clip. By automatically counting B-lines in a lung image, the tool helps doctors quickly identify and assess a patient’s lung issues at the point of care.

With a window into human body in real-time, next generation of ultrasound devices thwarts challenges of economic efficiency, geographic limits to care and ineffective training.

A study from the New England Journal of Medicine found that AI coupled with Butterfly iQ, a handheld ultrasound device, can assess fetal gestational age as accurately as a trained sonographer with expensive, bulky equipment; the findings have implications for democratizing obstetric ultrasounds.

As of late October, healthcare’s newest unicorn – Butterfly Network – has begun shipping its ultrasound-on-a-chip system that a senior executive believes will alter the field of ultrasound forever.

In 2018 alone, ten companies have inked mega-deals of more than $100 million including Livongo, 23andMe and American Well.

The portable ultrasound company raised a $250 million Series D financing round led by financial services Fidelity at a $1.25 billion valuation.

Butterfly Network previewed its Tele-Guidance technology at the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) Convention in New York City.

Dr. Jonathan Rothberg, founder and chairman of Butterfly Network, predicted the device’s impact would be not unlike the milestone development of camera phones.