Uppsala-based HealthTech startup Enaiblers has secured a $2.1 million grant from the Japan-based Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund) to advance its affordable, AI-based diagnostics platform aimed at underserved communities.
The Funder
The GHIT Fund is an international public-private partnership headquartered in Japan, bringing together the Japanese government (through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), 16 pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, and the United Nations Development Programme. The fund backs scientific research into diseases disproportionately affecting the world’s poorest populations, with the majority of its investments historically going toward malaria, tuberculosis, and other neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Products it funds are required to be appropriate, effective, affordable, and accessible for the poorest of the poor.
The Problem Enaiblers Is Solving
More than 1.5 billion people worldwide suffer from neglected tropical diseases, a burden estimated to cost national economies $33 billion in lost productivity every year. Conventional diagnostic methods for NTDs remain dominated by manual microscopy — slow, subjective, and dependent on scarce trained personnel — which still accounts for roughly half of all NTD diagnostics performed today.
Enaiblers was spun out of a Johnson & Johnson research division after the company shut down the unit developing an AI-powered, offline-capable automated microscope designed to analyze diagnostic samples without an internet connection — a necessity in regions with limited infrastructure. Co-founders Peter Ward and Peter Dahlberg took the technology forward independently, building it into a purpose-built, end-to-end diagnostics solution designed to fit lab-grade precision into a backpack.
The company’s platform turns manual microscopy into fast, objective, AI-driven diagnostics at a fraction of the cost of conventional lab systems, targeting point-of-care testing for tropical diseases in developing countries where healthcare infrastructure is basic and resources for specialist training are limited. Because the system doesn’t rely on generative AI, it also avoids the heavier energy demands that come with it — a relevant consideration for deployment in low-resource settings.
Enaiblers has already built a track record in the space: its underlying AI-powered digital pathology platform has been used to support large-scale deworming programs against soil-transmitted helminths and intestinal schistosomiasis, with field testing carried out across sites including Ethiopia and Uganda. The company is also an industry partner in the newly formed Pan European One Health Network for Infectious Diseases Detection, Monitoring, and Prevention, coordinated by the Infection Innovation Consortium (iiCON) and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
What’s Next
The GHIT grant gives Enaiblers non-dilutive funding to keep advancing its AI-driven diagnostic imaging platform, as the company works toward its stated mission of ensuring that a lack of resources never has to mean a lack of quality diagnostic care.
Source: Swedish Tech Weekly, LinkedIn, Enaiblers
