Chipiron

Chipiron is a Paris-based medical imaging company designing, manufacturing and commercializing a new generation of compact, low-cost MRI machines. The system operates at ultra-low magnetic fields — described on the company website as below 30 mT and in one funding report as below 10 mT — with the stated aim of producing an open, full-body scanner that requires no shielded room and no helium, while keeping clinical image quality. Positioning materials state the ambition of increasing MRI accessibility roughly 100-fold and making MRI as routine as X-ray or blood sampling, with an initial mission focus on breast cancer screening and image-guided therapy.

The technology stack combines four elements: a patented cryogenic ultrasensitive detection system said to acquire MRI signal in an open environment and improve signal-to-noise ratio up to 10x versus room-temperature detection chains; linear and non-linear active AI noise-cancellation; a magnet and gradient design with a small footprint that removes the need for a Faraday cage; and an unconventional low-field AI reconstruction approach including a breast-dedicated sequence intended to compress ultra-low-field acquisitions into clinically relevant scan times. The underlying sensing approach originates from SQUID (superconducting quantum interference device) research, from which the company also draws its name — "chipiron" being a small squid.

The company is pre-commercial. Its published roadmap targets first in-vivo images on a full-body in-house system in December 2025, hardware integration and validation for an investigational device in June 2026, design verification in November 2026, installation at a study site in May 2027, end of clinical investigation in November 2027, FDA submission in March 2028 and 510(k) clearance in August 2028. Following its Series A, management said clinical investigations in hospitals would begin in 2026 and first FDA and European authorizations were expected within three to five years.

Founding story

Co-founders Dimitri Labat, a condensed-matter theory PhD (thesis defended in 2018 at Université Paris Cité) who had worked at the Banque de France, and Evan Kervella met through Entrepreneur First while looking for a physics technology to commercialize. They converged on SQUID superconducting sensors applied to MRI, reasoning that highly sensitive detectors permit good imaging at small magnetic fields and therefore cheaper, smaller machines. The company name comes from "chipiron", a small squid, referencing the SQUID acronym.

Business model

Chipiron designs, manufactures and intends to market MRI hardware; the company states it builds machines for deployment in hospitals and clinics. No pricing or contractual model is disclosed in the sources beyond the emphasis on low cost relative to conventional MRI.

Traction

Traction is technical and non-commercial: first images were produced in Q4 2023 and published in white paper v3 (April 2024), with further 2024 images in white paper v4 (March 2025). The roadmap targets first in-vivo images on a full-body in-house system in December 2025 and clinical trials from 2026. Cumulative disclosed funding is reported at over $22 million as of the Series A and $25.8 million in later third-party listings, including substantial non-dilutive support from France 2030, Bpifrance and the EIC Accelerator.

Latest developments

In April 2025 Chipiron closed a $17 million Series A led by Blast (with EIC Fund, iXcore, France2030, EIC Accelerator and Bpifrance) to complete R&D, build its first ultra-low-field clinical prototypes and start clinical trials in 2026. It won VivaTech's Innovation of the Year in June 2025, was featured on a TechCrunch podcast in September 2025, and is recruiting for analog electronics and regulatory affairs/quality assurance roles. TechCrunch listed cumulative money raised at $25.8 million as of September 2025.