Deep Lens, a digital pathology startup particularly focused on cancer trials, has brought in a $13.65 million Series A round, according to an SEC filing. The fundraise was headed by Northpond Ventures with additional support from prior investors Rev1 Ventures, Sierra Ventures and Tamarind-Hill Partners, according to a release.

The Series A comes quickly after a seed funding round that raised just over $3 million last fall and, according to Deep Lens, brings the startup’s total funding to $17.5 million.

WHAT THEY DO

Spun out of Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, Deep Lens allows pathologists to study a multitude of digitized bio specimen slides when making a cancer diagnosis. The company digitizes the slides the slide mailed to them by pathology groups — which allows each to be stored in an EHR — and provides clients access to its cloud-based collaboration platform VIPER (Virtual Imaging for Pathology Education and Research).

“In the past year we have successfully launched our industry leading platform, VIPER, to the pathology industry at-large, we have integrated deep learning (AI) and we have made VIPER available free-of-charge to pathology groups worldwide as we work to identify patients at the time of diagnosis for available clinical trials,” TJ Bowen, Deep Lens’ cofounder and chief scientist, said in a statement.

WHAT IT’S FOR

According to an announcement, Deep Lens will leverage the new funding to scale its service, sales, and marketing teams, as well as to build upon its artificial intelligence and platform development.

WHAT’S THE TREND

Deep Lens isn’t the only digital pathology startup that’s caught investors’ eyes as of late — Proscia raised $8.3 million in September, while Paige.AI snagged $25 million just over a year ago. Meanwhile, the UK recently invested millions to set up five new AI digital pathology and imaging centers that are expected to become operational this year.

ON THE RECORD

“This Series A financing is further validation of the value of our industry-changing approach to digital pathology in delivering the right cancer diagnoses faster and accelerating oncology trial recruitment and timelines,” Dave Billiter, CEO and cofounder of Deep Lens, said in a statement.