When most startups talk about “listening to the market,” Sparrow BioAcoustics took it literally. Founded in 2019, this Canadian medtech company figured out how to turn the one device everyone already owns, a smartphone, into a medical-grade cardiac assessment tool. That’s not a metaphor. Through AI phonoscopy, their platform Stethophone captures and analyzes heart sounds using nothing but the phone’s mic, detecting murmurs, arrhythmias, and structural anomalies that even seasoned clinicians can miss. This isn’t a gadget play. It’s precision medicine in your pocket.
Today, Sparrow BioAcoustics announced a fresh $10M seed financing round led by Killick Capital and Klister Credit, with participation from Pelorus VC, Brinex Capital, and 98827 Newfoundland & Labrador Inc. The company’s total private funding now hovers around $14–15M, backed by a federal $500K lift from ACOA and a $380K provincial contribution from Newfoundland & Labrador’s Dept. of Industry, Energy & Technology. It’s a serious show of confidence from investors who don’t chase noise, they back signal.
Credit goes to CEO Mark Attila Opauszky, CMO & Co-Founder Dr. Yaroslav Shpak, CPO & Co-Founder Nadia Ivanova, and COO & Co-Founder David M. Rankin, along with the wider team whose mix of cardiology, software, and acoustic engineering pulled off what’s basically a moonshot in a lab coat. Add in Head of Clinical Trials Dr. Yulia Chaikin and Head of AI Dr. Nick Pogrebnyakov, and you’ve got a crew blending hard science with Silicon Valley-level execution, without leaving Atlantic Canada.
Stethophone isn’t theory; it’s already FDA-cleared for both pro and consumer use in the U.S., licensed by Health Canada, and approved in Ukraine. Over the past year alone, ~40K patients and clinicians have used it, logging 80K+ heart recordings with a 96% first-try success rate. Studies out of the University of Washington and Eastern Health show it outperforms traditional stethoscopes in diagnostic accuracy, with 70% of medical pros rating it superior in sound performance. That’s not hype, that’s data singing in tune.
The $10M round fuels hospital expansion across North America, deeper AI development, and the regulatory climb toward Class II FDA status. But zoom out and the bigger picture gets louder: cardiovascular disease claims 17.9M lives globally each year, 1 in 10 people walk around undiagnosed, and Sparrow’s tech is making early detection as easy as checking a voicemail.
This isn’t just another startup story. It’s proof that when innovation listens carefully enough, it hears the human heartbeat, and learns how to keep it going.
