Julián Ríos Cantú

In a number of interviews he has traced EVA to his mother’s breast cancer, and the ages and numbers recorded differ from one report to another. Inc. quoted him in 2017: “My mom had two types of breast cancer; one when I was 8 and the other when I was 11”; TechCrunchTechCrunchTechCrunch is an American technology news outlet founded in 2005 by Michael Arrington and Keith Teare and headquartered in San Francisco; it mainly covers technology companies, startups, and venture capital, and hosts events such as TechCrunch Disrupt. Its ownership passed successively through AOL, Verizon, and Yahoo, and in 2025 Regent announced its acquisition.Open the full entry quoted him in 2018: “My mom is a two-time breast cancer survivor,” and “The first time she was diagnosed I was eight years old”; EO’s finalist page states that after his mother’s two battles with breast cancer he resolved to save women’s lives.⁠[1][2][3]

Forbes México wrote in March 2017 that when he was 13 his mother was misdiagnosed on a mammogram; he said, “Ahí me doy cuenta de la tremenda inestabilidad de los métodos actuales de detección de cáncer de mama” (That is when I realized how tremendously unreliable current breast cancer detection methods are), and he then began researching breast cancer detection. The French medical newspaper Le Quotidien du Médecin wrote in May 2017 that he began the project at 13, after his mother’s breast cancer recurred; Argentina’s El Cronista wrote the same month that he began developing the prototype at 13 with three friends of his own age.⁠[4][5][6]

Forbes México wrote in February 2018 that, by his account, his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time when he was 15, and quoted him: “Esa experiencia me llevó a buscar métodos más efectivos para la detección de esta enfermedad” (That experience led me to look for more effective methods of detecting this disease). Bloomberg Línea Brasil wrote in 2026 instead that at 16, on seeing his mother diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time, he decided to find a way to help in this field, and the Brazilian outlet Startups wrote the same day that at 16 he left school and began to design what became Eden, its photo caption linking this to his search for a way to help in his mother’s care during her breast cancer diagnosis.⁠[7][8][9]

Expansión wrote in March 2017 that he developed his solution after his mother received a bad breast cancer diagnosis. Excélsior wrote in September 2017 that the project had begun two years earlier, after his mother was misdiagnosed; Fox News wrote that he said he was inspired by his mother’s struggles as she repeatedly battled the disease and eventually had both breasts removed. Contxto wrote in 2025 that in 2015 he launched Eva, a device to help detect breast cancer, and Uno TV wrote in July 2020 that he had created the later detection booth five years earlier.⁠[10][11][12][13][14]

Accounts of the company’s founding differ: the company page of the investor Kaszek gives 2015 as its founding year and lists the founders as Julián Ríos Cantú, Antonio Torres and Raymundo González Leal; Forbes México’s February 2018 profile in its “30 Promesas de los Negocios” list gives January 7, 2016 as the founding date of Higia Technologies and names Antonio Torres and Alejandra Perea as partners; another Forbes México report in April of that year wrote that he had founded the company alone two years earlier; and the Brazilian outlet Startups wrote in 2026 that the company was formally created in 2016 between Latin America and Silicon Valley.⁠[15][7][16][9]

Startupeable’s notes to a 2022 podcast episode state that the company began with almost no money: he and his co-founders sold bracelets at their high school to raise capital, and when that was not enough for the equipment they needed, they built it at home with copper sheets, acid and an adapted oven. Forbes México wrote in March 2017 that Higia Technologies was made up of ten engineers and that the final tests of the device had begun a year earlier at the home of one of them, with copper sheets carrying the biosensors soaked in acid to check their resistance to corrosion like that caused by sweat.⁠[17][4]

Reports from 2017 describe the team differently: Xataka México wrote that Higia Technologies had taken on eleven people in a year, among them oncologists, artificial intelligence specialists and algorithm developers; UNAM Global listed its members as José Antonio Torres (technology director), José Ángel Lavariega (director of innovation and development), Fernando López (software developer) and himself as executive director, and described them as being from the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey. Fox News wrote that he developed EVA with three friends through Higia Technologies; Excélsior wrote that he took the problem to two colleagues whom he calls “las personas más inteligentes que conozco” (the smartest people I know).⁠[18][19][12][11]

UNAM Global wrote in March 2017 that in February of that year the team won first place at the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards, receiving 250,000 pesos.⁠[19]

Xataka México, presenting the project on March 2, 2017, gave his age as 17. The article describes EVA as a smart bra that uses sensors and artificial intelligence to determine by thermography whether a woman may be developing a tumor: about 200 biosensors map the surface of the breast and measure thermal conduction zone by zone, and higher heat in one area may indicate increased blood flow and a possible cancerous growth; algorithms compare the heat patterns with a database of 1,000 cancer patients to estimate the type and stage of a tumor. The article states that the prototype reached 93 percent accuracy on a database of 20,000 thermographic images, that women would wear it 60 to 90 minutes a week, and that results could in future be shared with an oncologist. He said, “Quistes y malformaciones tienen diferentes curvas” (Cysts and malformations have different curves).⁠[18]

Xataka México added that the bra cost 1,000 pesos to produce and would sell for 2,500 pesos; that approval from the FDA and from Mexico’s health regulator Cofepris was needed first, at a cost of 2 million dollars; and that the big data the device would generate would be of great value to insurers, hospitals, governments and clinics. The article puts the potential market for the innovation at more than 100 billion dollars worldwide.⁠[18]

Forbes México, on March 30, gave his age as 18 and quoted him describing EVA as “una red de biosensores que va sobre el seno de la mujer” (a network of biosensors that goes over a woman’s breast): the device reads temperature data, analyzes it and sends it to a phone app or a computer. The team said at the time that it was starting the certification process with Cofepris and the FDA, aimed to begin sales in late 2018 or mid-2019, and would use an agreement with the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS) as the basis for nationwide clinical trials. The article also states that a tumor needs about 21 pounds of pressure to rupture, break out of its capsule and cause metastasis, while mammography exerts 42 pounds.⁠[4]

Expansión wrote on March 29 that the 18-year-old high-school student from Monterrey had won first place in the first Premio Everis México with the project: the award, created by the consultancy Everis, drew 787 entries and seven finalists, and he received one million pesos in non-repayable funds plus consulting from Everis; Tirecycle and ROKI Robotics placed second and third. Forbes México wrote that of 787 registered projects 447 were evaluated internally and 21 sent to an external committee before seven reached the final; the prize also included advisory services from i-deals worth about 100,000 pesos, and the winner and two Mexican finalists were to go to Madrid in May for the semifinal of the global Premio Everis, with a further 60,000 euros at stake.⁠[10][4]

Expansión wrote that Higia Technologies had signed a contract with the IMSS, led by Mikel Arriola, for a nationwide testing phase: a pilot with about 600 women at IMSS clinics in Pachuca, followed by a national rollout; Miroculus and Unima Soluciones signed at the same time. The article describes EVA as a pink bra with about 200 biosensors that detects breast cancer from the temperature of the breast, with a certainty of 93 percent at that point; the algorithm is the key, and the challenge lies in interpreting the data to make a diagnosis. UNAM Global wrote on March 30 that EVA, which it says may be more accurate than self-examination and less dangerous than mammography, would be tested nationally at the IMSS that year and that the company might also use public centers in the states to carry out clinical assessments of thousands of women; it called him the executive director of Higia Technologies and the winner of first place in the Premio Everis México, elsewhere calling Higia Technologies the “primer finalista” (first finalist) of that edition, and described the award as covering three areas: new business models in the digital economy, biotechnology and health, and industrial and energy technologies.⁠[10][19]

A press release that the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) issued in Frankfurt on May 2, 2017 states that the previous weekend he, an 18-year-old student at the Monterrey Institute of Technology, was named “Global Student Entrepreneur of the Year 2017”; the final was held during EO’s Global Leadership Conference with 55 competitors from 55 countries, and he received US$20,000 and additional endowments from the EO network. Second place went to Sadira Yeong Min Ji of Malaysia, founder of Readpublic, and third to Muhammad Asad Raza of Pakistan, founder of Neurostic. Brian Brault, EO’s global chairman for 2017–2018, said: “Julián Ríos Cantú’s project impressed judges with his passion and drive.”⁠[20]

EO’s finalist page describes Higia Technologies as a Mexican biosensor company focused on early breast cancer detection through self-examination, whose flagship product EVA is called “the first intelligent bra that uses touch, texture, color and pressure” to assess breast health without invasive procedures; his biggest challenge, it states, was insufficient data analysis, which he was addressing with neural networks. He said: “Technological innovation is the main tool to save lives.”⁠[3]

Fox News wrote on May 1 that he, an 18-year-old engineering student from Monterrey, had won the top prize of the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards in Frankfurt, taking home $20,000 after beating 13 other student entrepreneurs from around the world, and that he had earlier won the first edition of Mexico’s Everis Award for Entrepreneurs. The article states that EVA has about 200 biosensors that map the surface of the breast and monitor its temperature, shape and weight, and that it is designed mainly for women with a genetic predisposition to the disease. He said: “EVA is a network of biosensors that covers the woman’s breast,” and “As soon as there is a malformation in the breast or a tumor, there is an over-vascularization,” adding that the bra “doesn’t have to be worn more than one hour a week.”⁠[12]

Inc. published an article by EO on July 21, 2017, stating that the global final took place in Frankfurt in April 2017; it describes his company as about two years old, its product as small biosensor patches that attach to any bra, and his plans as gaining certification in Latin America, starting with e-commerce sellers, then expanding to Europe and Asia and later the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States is a federal country in North America made up of 50 states, the District of Columbia as the seat of government, and territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam; its capital is Washington, D.C. The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted a resident population of 331,449,281, and the 435 seats of the House of Representatives are apportioned among the states on the basis of the census.Open the full entry and selling directly to governments, with the prize money going to clinical trials, product development and commercialization. He said: “If we can make not only a detection method but also a prevention method, we can save millions of lives,” and “I understand why people might doubt that I can lead a company at my age,” and “So that’s what we’ll do: prevent breast cancer.”⁠[1]

El Cronista wrote on May 9 that he had not yet finished secondary school, and that EVA takes the temperature of the skin and maps the contours of the breast, sending the data to an app that issues alerts, and needs to be worn only 90 minutes a week. He said, “Usar un corpiño así es más cómodo que un mamograma, que muchas mujeres evitan” (Wearing a bra like this is more comfortable than a mammogram, which many women avoid). Le Quotidien du Médecin wrote the same day that EVA carries tactile, light and thermal biosensors meant to detect a breast cancer recurrence early, to be worn 60 to 90 minutes a week, with the data sent by Bluetooth to smartphone and web apps and processed by algorithms into a weekly report for the patient and her oncologist; the team planned clinical trials beginning with women who carry BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations, and certification by health authorities was still pending.⁠[6][5]

An interview published by Excélsior on September 12, 2017 (published with the permission of The Insight) describes him, at 18, as chief executive of Higia Technologies who had just begun a degree in engineering physics (Ingeniería Física) at the Tec de Monterrey; he was at the Kio Kloudcamp 2017 event. He considered his age, with few financial burdens, to be “el momento adecuado para emprender” (the right moment to start a business). The article states that he chose changes in temperature, skin color and skin texture as the detection signals and describes EVA as a non-intrusive diagnostic method.⁠[11]

On February 13, 2018, Forbes México included him in that year’s “30 Promesas de los Negocios” (30 most promising businesses), describing him as director general of Higia Technologies, the developer of the breast cancer detection wearable EVA. The article gives the company’s figures as estimated revenue of 5 million pesos for 2017, 15 jobs created and an exclusive presale of 5,000 units for Mexican women.⁠[7]

He recalled that the first time he spoke with an oncologist specializing in breast cancer, the doctor said, “alguien tan joven no va a venir a decirme como hacer mi trabajo” (someone so young is not going to come and tell me how to do my job), and hung up on him; the article states that it took this man, who had studied breast cancer all his life, 25 seconds to conclude that the project was useless. He said, “En ese momento hubiera sido muy fácil desistir” (At that moment it would have been very easy to give up), but he did not. He described his ideal partners as “gente que tenga esa visión económica y de negocios pero que también tenga una perspectiva humana” (people who have that economic and business vision but also a human perspective).⁠[7]

The article adds that the company planned to follow with ADÁN, an undergarment wearable similar to EVA for detecting testicular cancer, and Aquiles, an auxiliary device to help with the effects of diabetes, particularly amputation.⁠[7]

Forbes México states that the previous year (2017) he received the Sol Azteca Presidential Medal in Technology and Innovation (Medalla Presidencial Sol Azteca en Tecnología e Innovación) from Mexico’s president, Enrique Peña Nieto; TechCrunch likewise wrote in 2018 that he was awarded Mexico’s Presidential Medal for Science and Technology in 2017.⁠[7][2]

On April 5, 2018, Forbes México wrote that he spoke at Jalisco Talent Land as executive director of Higia Technologies: EVA was to go on sale in Japan at the end of that year, and its algorithms were continuously refined as they learned from each new user. He said, “El dispositivo será lanzado en Japón y además prevemos nuevos proyectos a inicios del próximo año” (The device will be launched in Japan, and we also foresee new projects early next year).⁠[16]

The article states that the team then had 15 members, including engineers and industrial, hardware and software developers, and that the company operated in Mexico, Colombia, Spain, Japan and the United States; those taking part in testing included Seguros AXA, Tepoztlán, the IMSS and a group of “mujeres fundadoras” (founding women) who wore the bra and whose results helped improve the device. He said, “El proyecto pretende crear conciencia en todos los estratos sociales, pues la enfermedad se manifiesta por igual” (The project aims to raise awareness in all social strata, because the disease shows itself equally).⁠[16]

On June 22, 2018, the Thiel Foundation announced the 20 members of the 2018 class of the Thiel FellowshipThiel FellowshipThe Thiel Fellowship is a two-year grant program started by investor Peter Thiel and run by the Thiel Foundation that funds young people who skip or stop out of college to build new things instead. The program has been criticized by figures in education for encouraging young people to leave college.Open the full entry, among them him (item 14 of the list, under “Wearables”): the list gives his home as Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, and describes him as co-founder and CEO of Higia Technologies, which was developing an accessible and non-invasive wearable device for assessing breast cancer risk. The announcement states that the program, launched in 2011, encourages young people to pursue big ideas and start companies instead of attending college, and that fellows receive $100,000 and mentorship from the foundation’s network of technology founders, investors and scientists.⁠[21]

TechCrunch wrote on August 17, 2018 that Y Combinator had invested $120,000 in Higia Technologies that summer; it called him the company’s co-founder and CEO, who designed EVA at 18, and named Dr. Richard Kaszynski as the company’s medical adviser. The article states that Higia Technologies had won first place at SXSW’s International Pitch Competition in 2018 and had been named one of the “30 Most Promising Businesses of 2018” by Forbes Mexico.⁠[2]

The article describes EVA at this stage as a thermal-sensing cup insert placed in a sports bra, in three standard sizes covering cups A to D; the user follows the instructions of the EVA Health App and waits 60 minutes, the data are sent by Bluetooth and analyzed by artificial intelligence for abnormal breast temperatures, and if an abnormality is possible the app recommends follow-up with a health professional; the company cited advanced server encryption and a HIPAA-compliant privacy infrastructure. In clinical trials in Mexico EVA showed 87.9 percent sensitivity and 81.7 percent specificity; 5,000 devices had been sold in Mexico, with the first several hundred due to ship by October 2018.⁠[2]

The article states that the company planned to begin clinical trials in the United States with Stanford Medicine X in October 2018, running for about a year, and then to seek FDA approval, first as a device sold in doctors’ offices and later for home use; the price had not been set, and he wanted the product to be affordable, especially for women in developing countries.⁠[2]

On March 20, 2019, Forbes México wrote that the company, formerly Higia Technologies and now called Eva, was opening its first primary-care clinic, Eva Clinic, in Puebla that day, focused on breast cancer diagnostic services and working mainly with its bra; the opening followed eight months of analysis, the clinic had three spaces (reception, waiting room and testing room), the first consultation and diagnosis were free, after which patients could buy an annual membership or pay per monitoring, and three more clinics were planned within four months in Guadalajara, Monterrey and Mexico City. The article gives his age as 19 and states that the company had 30 employees, had been incubated at Y Combinator in Silicon Valley and had raised more than US$5 million.⁠[22]

The article states that the bra now held 192 thermal sensors, with a tentative price of about US$299 and a five-year lifespan; users would receive a monthly health report and alerts when anomalies appeared; its design resembled a sports bra and fitted different bodies without the need for several sizes; it had been tested on about 450 patients at IMSS clinics and was in its last testing phase, with an official launch expected in the fourth quarter of 2019. Explaining the clinics, he said, “Nosotros sabemos que habrá personas que no puedan adquirir rápidamente el brasier” (We know there will be people who cannot quickly acquire the bra), and “Queremos que Eva Clinic sea un espacio en donde las mujeres se sientan cómodas al realizarse su seguimiento médico” (We want Eva Clinic to be a space where women feel comfortable having their medical follow-up).⁠[22]

Expansión wrote on April 16, 2020 that he had been with the company for four years, and, as chief executive of Eva, he presented its booths in shopping malls: Galerías Coapa, Tlalne Fashion Mall, Paseo Interlomas and Plaza Ciudad Jardín in Mexico City, Fiesta San Agustín in Monterrey, and Plaza Dorada in Puebla. The test uses a heat-detecting camera that produces a thermal map of the breasts; before the capture a voice assistant named Eva leads a two-minute meditation and asks about health and medical history; the process inside the booth takes about eight minutes and the whole visit under ten, results are sent by email within 12 to 24 hours, and a free follow-up called Eva Care consists of a call with a doctor who explains them. The price was 300 pesos with an appointment and 400 pesos without.⁠[23]

He said, “Es una herramienta no invasiva, sin dolor y sin radiación” (It is a non-invasive tool, without pain and without radiation), “Hemos ayudado a más de 10,000 mujeres en los últimos meses” (We have helped more than 10,000 women in recent months), and “Mi pasión es unir a la tecnología con servicios que puedan ayudar a mejorar la calidad de vida de las mujeres” (My passion is to bring together technology and services that can help improve women’s quality of life); he said that the data were protected by encryption. The article adds that the company offered free tests in 20 communities in Guerrero and Jalisco, together with awareness talks and dental care; it gives no accuracy or clinical-study figures.⁠[23]

Uno TV presented the booth (website evacenter.com) on July 31, 2020: it is laid out like a spa, with a comfortable stool and relaxing lights, a female voice guides the user through the steps, which take up to ten minutes, the cost is 300 pesos and the results are sent by email; Laura Monroy, Eva’s center manager doctor, said that the test emits no radiation and is painless and non-invasive, and can be done from age 18 to over 70 and also in pregnancy. The article states that the test can complement mammograms, which are recommended after 40. He said of his mother, “Ella es sobreviviente de cáncer de mama en dos ocasiones” (She is a two-time breast cancer survivor), and added, “mis otros socios comparten historias muy similares” (my other partners share very similar stories) and “nuestra meta, nuestra misión fue el crear tecnología para evitar que otras mujeres sufran lo que algunos de nuestros seres queridos han sufrido” (our goal, our mission was to create technology so that other women do not suffer what some of our loved ones have suffered).⁠[14]

Expansión wrote on June 15, 2022: “Julián Ríos es un joven mexicano de 23 años de edad, egresado de ingeniería física en el Tecnológico de Monterrey” (Julián Ríos is a 23-year-old young Mexican, a graduate in engineering physics of the Tecnológico de Monterrey), and described him as the creator of Eva Bra and chief executive of Eva Center. The article states that he created Eva Bra in 2016 and that the invention led to four international patents but ran into two problems: cost—he said that “no es fácil de democratizar en Latinoamérica un producto que podría llegar a costar hasta 10 mil dólares” (it is not easy to democratize in Latin America a product that could cost up to 10,000 dollars)—and incorrect use at home.⁠[24]

The article states that two years earlier he had founded Eva Center, opening 15 clinics in Nuevo León, Puebla and Mexico City that offered mammography and ultrasound under controlled conditions; he spoke of a later “momento de descontento” (moment of dissatisfaction), because the team wanted to change the world of health care, which is very hard to do with only 15 clinics. At the end of 2021 the company launched EVA PACS, an imaging archiving and communication platform that lets specialists analyze studies and send the results to patients and doctors by email or WhatsApp; the article puts its volume at about 90,000 studies a month, used by 250 public and private institutions in all 32 Mexican states, and he said that the company thereby reached more than 1.5 million patients. The company was preparing to launch, in six weeks, Eva Management, covering hospital billing, patient communication and scheduling and centralizing laboratory, radiology, medication and patient-record data; its aim, he said, “es digitalizar de principio a fin a las instituciones de salud” (is to digitize health institutions from beginning to end).⁠[24]

The article states that the company had raised US$7 million from international health funds, out of US$25 million raised in total, without naming the investors; his goal was to expand into Latin America, Africa, India and Southeast Asia, which he linked to the 83 percent of the world’s population living in developing regions. He said, “Eva quiere convertirse en la principal plataforma para el mundo en desarrollo” (Eva wants to become the leading platform for the developing world).⁠[24]

Looking back on this change, Bloomberg Línea Brasil wrote in 2026 that his first company, Eva, had tried to solve breast cancer diagnosis through hardware, with detection devices and booths, and that after clinical trials, including some in partnership with StanfordStanford UniversityStanford University is a research university in California founded by Leland and Jane Stanford in 1885 and opened in 1891.Open the full entry, the company pivoted. He said, “Nós fizemos 15 publicações em revistas de investigação científica internacionais e tivemos vários patentes” (We published 15 papers in international scientific journals and had several patents), but the team was not convinced that this path would fulfill its mission and turned to a platform working with all kinds of medical imaging rather than mammography alone. Contxto wrote that by 2022 he had steered the company toward a business model focused entirely on radiology; Forbes México wrote in 2025 that Eva Center met resistance from the medical community.⁠[8][13][25]

On November 16, 2022, Startupeable published a podcast interview with him; the episode page calls him chief executive and co-founder of Eva, a platform on which radiologists store, analyze and share the results of imaging studies such as MRIs and ultrasounds, and says that the episode covers Eva’s two major pivots in product and business model. The notes describe how he prioritizes features, sorting requests into features that increase product-market fit and sales, one-off customer requests (prioritized only if they can be generalized to all customers and create value for patients, and judged by the client’s size when only one condition is met) and bets on the future, which a core team of four builds in isolation, with more people joining only once about 80 percent of the product is complete. The notes also quote him: “Uno empieza a encontrar el significado de la vida cuando empieza a plantar árboles en los que no se va a posar” (One begins to find the meaning of life when one begins to plant trees in whose shade one will never rest).⁠[17]

On November 8, 2023, writing as chief executive and co-founder of EDEN, he published a contributed article in Mexico Business News, “Radiology: Challenges and Opportunities in Mexico, Latin America,” presenting the company’s latest artificial intelligence product, Eden Creator: the article states that it uses language models trained on more than 570 gigabytes of text with 175 billion parameters, that it can save physicians up to an hour of work a day and that it improves diagnostic accuracy. He wrote: “I firmly believe that technology should serve medicine, not the other way around.”⁠[26]

On July 10, 2024, Expansión wrote that Eden had raised US$10 million in a round led by Sierra Ventures, with funds such as Dalus Capital, Ali Capital, Liquid and Endeavor participating, to strengthen its artificial intelligence research and development and its international expansion. The article describes Eden as a Mexican health company that uses generative artificial intelligence to assist clinical diagnosis, processing 3.5 million images a day and serving six million patients in 17 Latin American countries, with Mexico as its main market and a presence in Peru and Brazil; its clients included Grupo Diagnóstico PROA, Laboratorios el Chopo, Grupo Santa María, Capi Laboratorio, Imagenología Christus Muguerza and the health secretariats of the states of Chiapas, Morelos and Chihuahua, and he cited a charge of 21 pesos per study. The article mentions a small black box the size of a notebook that connects to any medical equipment through the international DICOM standard, and mobile units with satellite internet, provided by foundations, that let patients take their studies with them by WhatsApp.⁠[27]

The article states that he, as Eden’s founder, and his team spent a month in Silicon Valley raising the round, which he called “producto de los últimos tres años de trabajo” (the product of the last three years of work), and that he expected further rounds and possibly a stock-market listing: “Si para construir una compañía generacional tenemos que salir a Bolsa, saldremos” (If to build a generational company we have to go public, we will).⁠[27]

An investment note that Sierra Ventures published on July 17, 2024 states that Eden is based in Mexico City and was founded by Julián Ríos and Raymundo González, and that its other investors include Kaszek, Alt Capital, Y Combinator and Khosla VenturesKhosla VenturesKhosla Ventures (KV) is an American venture capital firm founded in 2004 by Vinod Khosla, the founding CEO of Sun Microsystems, and headquartered in Menlo Park, California. It made heavy early bets on clean technology, became OpenAI’s first venture capital investor in 2019, and its portfolio also includes companies such as DoorDash, Block (formerly Square), Impossible Foods, and Rocket Lab.Open the full entry; Eden was used by 75 percent of radiologists in Mexico, affected more than six million patients a year and planned to release a laboratory system. The note says that the company was inspired by Julián Ríos’s family experience of his mother’s battle against breast cancer and the gaps in the region’s health system that it exposed. Contxto wrote in 2025 that the 2024 round was led by Sierra Ventures with Dalus Capital, Alt Capital, Liquid2 and Endeavor, and that the company had raised about US$25 million before it.⁠[28][13]

Bloomberg Línea Brasil wrote that, to prepare the Brazilian operation, he lived in Brazil for most of 2025; the Brazilian outlet Startups wrote that Eden’s Brazilian operation began in 2025, with a physical office in São Paulo as regulation requires.⁠[8][9]

On July 8, 2025, Forbes México included him, at 26, in its “30 under 30 2025.” The article states that he had been building health ventures for almost ten years, starting at 17 with the Eva bra, a device to help detect breast cancer that does not replace mammography, and then creating Eva Center, a cancer-detection booth, which met resistance from the medical community; his current company, Eden, is a radiology and imaging platform seeking more accurate and faster diagnoses, which had raised more than US$14 million in venture capital from firms including Y Combinator, Kaszek, Khosla Ventures and Hummingbird VenturesHummingbird VenturesHummingbird Ventures is a venture capital firm founded by Barend Van den Brande and based in London and Antwerp, Belgium, that invests in “outlier” founders without limiting itself to particular sectors or regions; its early investments include Peak Games, Kraken, Deliveroo, BillionToOne, and Lovable.Open the full entry (“Hummingbird VC” in the article), with angel investors including Ashton Kutcher, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tony RobbinsTony RobbinsTony Robbins is an American author, speaker, entrepreneur and personal-development coach born on February 29, 1960. He founded Robbins Research International and the Tony Robbins Foundation. Known for large seminars and books including Unlimited Power, Awaken the Giant Within and MONEY: Master the Game, he is also involved in investing, health services and philanthropy.Open the full entry, Jessica Livingston and Paul Buchheit, and which served more than 2,000 health institutions in 18 Latin American countries, delivering 13 million diagnoses a year.⁠[25]

He said that “la medicina, que es donde más se necesita, se quedó en la década de 1990 o principios de los 2000” (medicine, where it is most needed, stayed in the 1990s or early 2000s), and that “cuando la medicina está bien hecha, es la profesión más milagrosa del mundo” (when medicine is done well, it is the most miraculous profession in the world). He attributes his staying power in entrepreneurship above all to resilience: “La única diferencia entre ellos y yo no creo que sea inteligencia, ni acceso a capital, ni nada más que resiliencia” (The only difference between them and me, I believe, is not intelligence or access to capital or anything else but resilience). He said that criticism at times left him feeling overwhelmed: “Yo tenía 20 años, me despertaba con taquicardia, pero la misión siempre fue más grande que cualquier adversidad” (I was 20, I would wake up with tachycardia, but the mission was always bigger than any adversity).⁠[25]

On October 10, 2025, Forbes Colombia and Contxto wrote that Eden had raised a US$22 million Series A led by Sierra Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures and Daniel Servitje, chief executive of Grupo Bimbo, both calling it one of the largest rounds in Latin American health technology. Forbes Colombia describes Eden as a Mexican startup building a cloud-based radiology operating system, whose cloud-native RIS/PACS lets hospitals and clinics operate without local infrastructure; earlier backers included Khosla Ventures, Kaszek and Hummingbird Ventures, with angel investors Leonardo DiCaprio, Ashton Kutcher, Tony Robbins, Jessica Livingston and Paul Buchheit, the creator of Gmail. The company served more than 2,200 medical institutions in Latin America across 18 countries and processed more than 13 million medical studies a year; the funds were to accelerate regional expansion, strengthen its artificial intelligence diagnostic tools and infrastructure and grow its team in Colombia. Contxto wrote that Eden had recently launched AI Report, which lets radiologists dictate their interpretations while viewing images to generate clinical reports, that the funds would also go to new markets including the United States, and that its clients included Grupo Diagnóstico PROA, Laboratorios del Chopo, Grupo Santa María, Lapi Laboratorio and Imagenología Christus Muguerza.⁠[29][13]

Forbes Colombia gives his age as 26 and describes him as Eden’s chief executive and co-founder, named to ForbesForbesForbes is an American business media brand that began with Forbes magazine, founded by B.C. Forbes in 1917. It is known for rankings such as the Forbes 400, the World’s Billionaires list and 30 Under 30, and operates Forbes.com, ForbesLive events and licensed editions in 81 countries. Since 2014 a majority stake has been held by the Hong Kong investment group Integrated Whale Media; a 2021 plan to list on the New York Stock Exchange through a special purpose acquisition company was terminated in 2022. It is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey.Open the full entry’s “30 Under 30” Latin America list. He said: “Estamos construyendo el sistema operativo de radiología de referencia para América Latina” (We are building the benchmark radiology operating system for Latin America), “No solo empecé joven, sino que empecé joven en una industria extremadamente tradicional, credencialista y regulada” (Not only did I start young, I started young in an extremely traditional, credentialist and regulated industry), adding that Eden was created “para que la tecnología esté al servicio de la salud, no al revés” (so that technology serves health, not the other way around); of the round he said, “Esta inversión valida tanto el potencial tecnológico de nuestra plataforma como la urgencia de nuestra misión” (This investment validates both the technological potential of our platform and the urgency of our mission). Contxto quotes him as saying that the company was consolidating a world-class radiology operating system for all of Latin America and that the investment validated the urgency of its mission: “to bring high-standard medical care to all, without exception”; it also cites an interview of 2017 in which he said that Mexico lacked radiologists and thermographers.⁠[29][13]

Accounts of Eden’s total funding differ: Forbes Colombia puts it at more than US$36 million after this round, while the Brazilian outlet Startups wrote in 2026 that the total came to US$32 million, describing the US$10 million round of 2024 as led by Sierra with Kaszek, Alt Capital, Y Combinator and Khosla Ventures participating.⁠[29][9]

On March 2, 2026, Bloomberg Línea Brasil wrote that Eden had chosen Brazil as its main market in Latin America and planned to invest at least half of its Series A, about US$11 million, in its Brazilian operation over two years. The article states that Eden served more than 2,600 health institutions in 18 countries with revenue more than doubling each year, and expected its Brazilian revenue to grow sixfold a year; it already had a dedicated local team and served more than 100 imaging departments in Brazil, including Dasa; the company said that its technology cut interpretation time by 30 to 50 percent, and by up to 90 percent in some cases, that it automatically detected up to ten thoracic pathologies and that it had built a base of more than 4 billion medical images; it had dropped traditional license fees in favor of pricing per study, and its platform integrated with every kind of imaging equipment. Its investors included Sierra Ventures, which led the seed round and the Series A, Kaszek, Khosla Ventures, Alt Capital, a fund created by Sam AltmanSam AltmanSam Altman is an entrepreneur and investor, and the co-founder and chief executive officer of OpenAI. He previously served as president of Y Combinator and founded the location-based social service Loopt. He also helped found Tools for Humanity and Merge Labs, has invested in energy and life sciences ventures, and has driven public discussion of AI governance, employment, and wealth distribution.Open the full entry’s family, and the actors Ashton Kutcher and Leonardo DiCaprio. The company had hired Felipe Kitamura, previously of Dasa, Mayo Clinic and Stanford University, as chief medical officer.⁠[8]

He called Brazil “a nossa prioridade estratégica principal” (our main strategic priority) for the company, spoke of the chance “Se você tem a capacidade de mudar o sistema de saúde do Brasil” (if you have the capacity to change Brazil’s health system), and described the mission as ensuring that “nenhuma pessoa ficará sem o diagnóstico correto no tempo correto” (no one will go without the correct diagnosis at the correct time); of per-study pricing he said, “Isso é o que nos permitiu atender desde uma instituição muito pequena no norte do Brasil” (That is what has allowed us to serve even a very small institution in the north of Brazil).⁠[8]

Startups wrote the same day that Eden had developed a cloud-native PACS giving accredited radiologists remote access to images of diagnostic quality and had brought artificial intelligence into the radiologist’s workflow to deliver a kind of preliminary report; the company served more than 2,600 institutions in 18 countries, processing about 5 billion images a year for about 19 million patients, had agreements with more than 100 imaging departments in Brazil, was in talks with advanced hospitals and hoped to serve Brazil’s public health system, SUS. The funds were to go to hiring engineers and medical specialists in Brazil and adapting the platform to local rules; the article describes Felipe Kitamura as an affiliate professor of radiology at the Universidade Federal de São Paulo. He said: “Sem imagem, não existe diagnóstico. E sem diagnóstico, não existe tratamento” (Without imaging there is no diagnosis, and without diagnosis there is no treatment), and “O Brasil é o país mais importante estrategicamente para a Eden na América Latina” (Brazil is the most strategically important country for Eden in Latin America).⁠[9]

As of November 2026, Y Combinator’s company page lists Eden in San Francisco with 100 employees and its founders as Julián Cantú and Raymundo Gonzalez, with the slogan “Building Clinical Superintelligence.” Kaszek’s company page gives Eden’s headquarters as Mexico City, with operations in 17 Latin American countries, 1,100 partner institutions and more than 400 million medical images processed a year. Eden’s website states its mission as “Respuestas clínicas precisas para toda la humanidad” (Precise clinical answers for all of humanity).⁠[30][15][31]

Y Combinator’s company page calls him Julián Cantú, Le Quotidien du Médecin spells his name Julian Rios Cantu, and reports in Expansión and Forbes México call him Julián Ríos.⁠[30][5][24][25]

The ages given in reports are as follows: Xataka México gave him as 17 on March 2, 2017; Expansión and Forbes México as 18 at the end of March 2017; Forbes México as 19 in March 2019; Expansión as 23 in June 2022; and Forbes México in July 2025, Forbes Colombia in October 2025 and Bloomberg Línea Brasil in March 2026 as 26.⁠[18][10][4][22][24][25][29][8]

The Brazilian outlet Startups quoted him in 2026: “Eu nasci de inseminação artificial e fui salvo no parto pela tecnologia” (I was born through artificial insemination and was saved at birth by technology). Inc. wrote in 2017 that he is dyslexic and could not read until he was 5, and that he credits focus with helping him catch up; he said: “It’s the same in a company: you have to be focused, prepared and persistent.”⁠[9][1]

On his family’s medical history, Expansión wrote in 2020 that his mother had survived breast cancer three times and that his grandmother (“abuela”) died of the disease; the Brazilian outlet Startups wrote in 2026 that his mother received three different cancer diagnoses over nearly two decades, and quoted him: “perdi pessoas da minha família para tumores não diagnosticados” (I lost people in my family to undiagnosed tumors); and Bloomberg Línea Brasil wrote that his family has a severe history of cancer, with late diagnoses and medical errors that led to the loss of his grandparents (“avós”).⁠[23][9][8]

Expansión wrote in 2022 that he draws inspiration from the Chicago BullsChicago BullsThe Chicago Bulls are a professional basketball team in the National Basketball Association (NBA), competing in the Eastern Conference’s Central Division and playing at the United Center in Chicago. Founded in 1966 by a group led by Dick Klein, they began NBA play in 1966–67 as the city’s third NBA franchise. In the Michael Jordan era, the Bulls achieved two three-peats and won six NBA titles, in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997 and 1998. They finished the 1995–96 regular season 72–10. A group led by Jerry Reinsdorf has controlled the club since 1985.Open the full entry, above all the Bulls of the Michael Jordan era.⁠[24]

Eden: Official website: https://edenmed.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[31]

Thiel Fellowship: Official website: https://thielfellowship.org/ (opens in a new window).⁠[32]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juli%C3%A1n-r%C3%ADos-cant%C3%BA/ (opens in a new window).⁠[28]