A CT scanner that delivers full-color images — and fits at the point of care — is edging closer to clinical reality.

MARS Bioimaging is approaching its $10 million Series A funding, aimed at scaling the world’s first spectral molecular imaging CT scanner. The Christchurch, New Zealand–based company secured $7.6 million in the round’s initial close last year and is now selectively adding investors under the same terms. Pacific Channel, a New Zealand deep-tech venture capital firm, is leading the round. Proceeds will support market and technology development, production scale-up, and key hires, according to the company.

To guide this next phase, MARS has tapped Ojas Mahapatra, Ph.D., as group CEO. He says the funding will accelerate hiring across engineering, regulatory affairs, clinical research, and commercialization, while supporting expansion into the United States, New Zealand, and high-growth emerging markets. In his new role, Mahapatra will oversee commercial readiness, clinical adoption, strategic partnerships, regulatory pathways, and global production scale, while strengthening business development and investor relations.
Christopher Stoelhorst, chairman of MARS Bioimaging, highlights the significance of Mahapatra’s appointment. “Dr. Mahapatra’s leadership will help scale our commercial and go-to-market capabilities, direct growth capital and talent where it can have the greatest impact, and advance MARS’ diagnostic technology to improve health economics and equity,” Stoelhorst says.

Mahapatra expects the technology to deliver on that promise. Unlike conventional black-and-white CT, MARS scanners produce 3D color images that reveal bone, soft tissue, blood vessels, and metallic implants, often without contrast. Early adoption is strongest in musculoskeletal imaging, particularly extremities, where the system can detect cartilage issues, bone quality concerns, and subtle pathologies that standard CT may miss.

Central to this adoption is the MARS 5x120 scanner, the first commercial system to use Medipix-based spectral photon-counting detectors. Developed with input from leading musculoskeletal centers, including the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, it delivers high-resolution, multi-energy imaging with spectral discrimination for material decomposition. Its compact design is optimized for extremity imaging, compared with larger whole-body photon-counting CT systems.

Mahapatra believes the platform could expand access to advanced CT in regions that historically lack it. “MARS Bioimaging’s compact and scalable technology is positioned to extend advanced spectral CT imaging beyond large urban centers and high-income countries,” he says. “The enhanced diagnostic capabilities lead to better patient outcomes, optimized use of healthcare resources, and lower downstream costs through earlier and more accurate diagnosis, supporting health equity and better health economics.”

Systems are now in preclinical use across the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, China, Hong Kong, and New Zealand.

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