What Wellumio does

Wellumio is a New Zealand-based medical technology company founded in 2019 that is developing Axana, a portable MRI scanner intended for time-critical stroke diagnosis. The device is built on a proprietary imaging method called Pulsed Gradient Free Mapping (PGFM), which the company states eliminates the need for superconducting magnets and cryogenic cooling, enabling a low-cost, portable form factor deployable in ambulances, emergency departments, and remote clinics. Wellumio complements the hardware with a software layer called the Stroke-GPS engine, for which a provisional patent has been filed, intended to assist with interpretation and triage of imaging output.

The company is pre-revenue: Axana is under clinical investigation, with the first patient enrolled in a feasibility trial in February 2025, and FDA De Novo classification is targeted for 2027. To date, Wellumio has raised approximately NZ$11.5M in equity (NZ$4.25M seed in 2023 and NZ$7.28M pre-Series A in February 2025) plus grant funding, and operates from offices in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States with an 11-50 employee base. The company is co-led by co-CEOs Shieak Tzeng (MD/PhD, ex-Harvard) and Sergei Obruchkov (MRI physicist), with the board chaired by Sia Moussavi, an industry veteran from GE Healthcare.

Wellumio's go-to-market is structured around hospital systems, stroke networks, and pre-hospital care providers, with established clinical and commercial partners including MEYTEC (hardware integration), the Australian Stroke Alliance, Royal Melbourne Hospital, and John Hunter Hospital. Revenue mechanics are not yet disclosed; the company is positioned to monetize via device sales (and potentially consumables or software licensing) into emergency neurology workflows once regulatory clearance is obtained.

Name

Wellumio

Legal name

Wellumio

Website

https://wellumio.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Wellumio is a New Zealand-based medtech company developing Axana, a portable MRI scanner for stroke diagnosis using its proprietary Pulsed Gradient Free Mapping technology, targeting emergency departments, pre-hospital stroke care, and hospital stroke networks.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Portable Medical Imaging

NAICS

Electromedical and Electrotherapeutic Apparatus Manufacturing (334510)

SIC

Electromedical & Electrotherapeutic Apparatus (3845)

akta.pro primary industry

Neurological Monitoring (EEG, Seizure/Sleep/Neuro Wearables) (HLAHACAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Neurology Telemedicine Platforms (HLALAGAC)

Keywords

• Portable MRI scanner
• Stroke diagnostics
• Brain imaging devices
• Point-of-care imaging
• Medical imaging equipment

Headquarters

HQ city

Wellington

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Hardware sales (future, pre-commercial): Products are currently under clinical investigation and not for sale. Future revenue model centers on sales of the Axana portable MRI system as a medical device to hospitals, stroke centers, and (potentially) ambulances, supplemented by service and consumables. The company's planned priority channels include direct sales to comprehensive stroke centres and academic hospitals, distributors, GPOs, OEM partnerships, and academic institutions.
2. Strategic/OEM partnerships (future): Future revenue also expected to flow from OEM partnerships with medical device strategics and imaging equipment companies, and integration with EMR, tele-neurology and stroke solution ecosystem vendors.

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Wellumio develops Axana, a portable (~50 kg) battery-powered, AI-enhanced magnetic resonance brain scanner built on its proprietary Pulsed Gradient Free Mapping (PGFM) technology, designed to deliver MRI-grade brain imaging and rapid stroke diagnosis directly at the point of care in emergency departments, spoke hospitals, and ambulances. The system pairs the portable PGFM scanner with an embedded "Stroke-GPS" AI engine that interprets multi-contrast biomarkers (T1, T2, T2 Flair, DWI, perfusion) to identify strokes within minutes. The product is currently under clinical investigation and is not yet for sale.

Product overview

Wellumio offers a single unified product, Axana® — a portable, AI-enhanced magnetic resonance brain scanner built on the company's patented Pulsed Gradient Free Mapping (PGFM) technology platform — augmented by the embedded Axana Stroke-GPS Engine, an AI module that interprets the MRI biomarker output (T1, T2, T2 FLAIR, DWI, perfusion) to rapidly identify strokes at the point of care. Together, the PGFM platform, the Axana hardware, and the Stroke-GPS AI engine form a physiology-first triage system designed for first-contact acute stroke settings such as emergency departments, spoke hospitals, and ambulances.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Axana: Wellumio's flagship portable, AI-enhanced magnetic resonance brain scanner (also stylized as Axana®) designed to enable rapid point-of-care stroke diagnosis within the "golden hour."

Products and services

• Axana portable MRI brain scanner Axana® is a portable (~50 kg), AI-enhanced, battery-powered magnetic resonance brain scanner built on Wellumio's proprietary Pulsed Gradient Free Mapping (PGFM) technology. It delivers trusted MRI biomarkers (T1, T2, T2 Flair, DWI, perfusion) at the bedside in emergency departments, spoke hospitals, and ambulances, designed to enable rapid point-of-care stroke diagnosis within the "Golden Hour." Products are currently under clinical investigation and not yet for sale.

Quantifiable outcome

• Fewer than 5% of acute ischemic stroke patients in the US currently receive treatment within the golden hour
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

AI capability3 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered flagship (regional), flagship (clinical), core (clinical trial), core (research) and core (research origin).

• MEYTECflagship (regional)Strategic or Co-development Partner · 20 May 2025MEYTEC (a leader in telemedicine and mobile emergency care technologies) and Wellumio signed an MoU to integrate Axana with MEYTEC's pre-hospital and in-hospital telemedicine platforms, enabling faster, more accurate stroke diagnostics in ambulances, rural hospitals, and emergency settings. The MoU covers evaluating integrated technical pathways, regulatory strategies, and commercial deployment models across Europe and Australasia, and explores novel supply models, clinical validation frameworks, and shared R&D initiatives.
• Australian Stroke Allianceflagship (clinical)Strategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2025Wellumio is partnering with the Australian Stroke Alliance to run the Axana feasibility trial, with the first patient enrolled at Royal Melbourne Hospital in early February 2025 and a second site at John Hunter Hospital slated to begin enrollment.
• Royal Melbourne Hospitalcore (clinical trial)Implementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 February 2025Royal Melbourne Hospital is the first clinical trial site for the Axana feasibility study, conducted in partnership with the Australian Stroke Alliance. The first patient was enrolled in early February 2025. The site also serves as a clinical reference and validation point for the technology.
• John Hunter Hospitalcore (clinical trial)Implementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 February 2025John Hunter Hospital is the planned second site for the Axana feasibility trial under the Australian Stroke Alliance partnership, slated to begin enrollment after Royal Melbourne Hospital.
• University of Adelaide (Renee Turner and team)core (research)Implementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2016The University of Adelaide (Renee Turner and her team) partnered with Wellumio in the 2016-2018 period to demonstrate, in a sheep stroke model, that the inside-out NMR technology could detect acute stroke within the first golden hour of disease onset — a critical proof of concept underpinning the move to a clinical device.
• Victoria University of Wellington (Paul Teal, Paul Callaghan's group)core (research origin)Strategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2013Victoria University of Wellington — specifically Paul Teal in engineering and Paul Callaghan's NMR team in physics — provided the foundational research environment in which the team developed inside-out NMR techniques for industrial applications and reengineered them for medical brain imaging.
• University of Otago (Shieak Tzeng)core (research origin)Implementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2013Shieak Tzeng's research fellowship at the University of Otago (followed by Harvard Medical School) — and the founding directorship of its Centre for Translational Research — provided the medical and clinical research foundation for the technology.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Hyperfine: Hyperfine makes the Swoop, an FDA-cleared portable, point-of-care MRI system with a 64kg form factor that brings brain imaging to the bedside. It is the most direct competitor to Wellumio's Axana, targeting similar use cases in ICUs, emergency departments, and stroke triage with multi-contrast imaging and AI software.

Broad incumbents

• GE HealthCare: GE HealthCare is a global leader in MRI, CT, and integrated stroke-care imaging and OEM relationships. Wellumio's leadership (former GE Healthcare Asia Pacific CEO as board chair; former GE Healthcare Global Product Manager for RF Coils as VP Product Development) and stated OEM partnership pipeline make GE a natural broad incumbent comparable.
• Siemens Healthineers: Siemens Healthineers is a major MRI and stroke-imaging incumbent with deep relationships in comprehensive stroke centers globally. It is a potential OEM partner and a benchmark incumbent whose installed base shapes hospital procurement decisions relevant to Axana's commercial path.
• Philips: Philips is a leading MRI and integrated neurology/stroke imaging incumbent with a global hospital footprint. It is directly comparable as a potential OEM partner and as a competitor in advanced neuroimaging for stroke triage and treatment.
• Penumbra: Penumbra is a neurovascular incumbent specializing in mechanical thrombectomy and stroke intervention. Wellumio explicitly positions Axana upstream of thrombectomy as a complementary triage tool, making Penumbra a logical strategic partner and a key reference point for the addressable patient pool.
• Stryker (Neurovascular): Stryker's Neurovascular division is a global leader in devices for hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke, including access and retrieval products used in thrombectomy. It is comparable as a broad incumbent in the same stroke-care value chain Wellumio serves, and a potential OEM/channel partner.
• Medtronic (Neurovascular): Medtronic's Neurovascular business offers a broad portfolio of stroke and neurovascular intervention products used in thrombectomy and aneurysm treatment. It is a broad incumbent comparable to Wellumio as a potential OEM partner and as a determinant of demand in the downstream stroke intervention market.

Emerging players

• Viz.ai: Viz.ai provides AI-driven stroke triage and care coordination software that analyzes CT/CTP imaging and speeds routing to thrombectomy. It is an adjacent emerging player in the same clinical workflow Axana targets, focused on software and workflow rather than portable hardware, and likely a partner or comparator in stroke-triage AI.
• RapidAI: RapidAI offers AI-based imaging analytics for stroke and other neurovascular conditions, processing CT/MRI studies to accelerate triage and treatment decisions. It is comparable as an emerging AI neuro-imaging player competing for clinical workflow share in the same stroke pathway Axana serves.
• icometrix: icometrix develops AI software for brain MRI quantification, including MS and other neuro indications, with regulatory clearances across the US and Europe. It is an emerging AI-imaging peer whose software/AI-led model contrasts with Wellumio's hardware-plus-AI approach, and could be a partner or indirect competitor in stroke imaging analytics.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wellumio

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors16 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Wellumio