Healthcare stands as a pivotal sector within the U.S. economy, being its largest component with annual expenditures nearing $4 trillion. It surpasses all other industries in terms of employment, representing 11% of the total job market in the United States. Furthermore, it constitutes nearly a quarter of the U.S. government's total spending, underscoring its significant economic impact.
Artificial intelligence presents a unique chance to unravel this complex challenge and redefine healthcare practices. Among the many areas AI is set to revolutionize soon, its influence in healthcare is expected to be more significant and extensive than in any other sector.
Before we explore a brief overview of healthcare startups leveraging cutting-edge AI technologies, it's important to note that major corporations such as Microsoft, Nvidia, IBM, Oracle, and Alphabet are also making substantial investments in AI for healthcare. This suggests we can expect thrilling advancements in this area soon.
Here are top 10 AI Startups that are leading the charge of the healthcare sector in 2024:
Founded in the USA in 2018 by Dr. Jeff Chang and Doktor Gurson, RadAI is on a mission to transform radiology with artificial intelligence. With $33M in funding, RadAI's flagship product, Rad AI Omni, is revolutionizing the field by saving radiologists over an hour each day. It automates the creation of impressions from dictated findings, tailoring the language to each radiologist's and practice's preferences. This innovation enhances efficiency and reduces burnout, significantly improving patient care quality.
Based in Bangalore, India, and founded in 2019 by Dr. Rimjhim Agrawal and Laina Emmanuel, BrainSightAI is pioneering the use of AI in neurological and psychiatric care. As an MRI-based SaaS platform, it utilizes fMRI, sMRI, and digital phenotypes to transition from informed estimations to data-driven diagnoses and prognoses, significantly shortening the path to recovery. BrainSightAI stands out for its precision in diagnosis and prognosis, offering neurosurgeons, psychiatrists, and neurologists' evidence-based treatment options while providing patients with a private and empathetic digital support system.
Based in San Francisco, California, Tambua Health, founded in 2018 by Daniel Gathigai, Eric Kirima, and Lewis Wanjohi, is pioneering in medical technology with a focus on developing portable ultrasound imaging technology tailored for the developing world. With $250K in funding, the company introduced the T-Scope device, the first FDA & CE Approved software-based ultraportable ultrasound designed for point-of-care and specialized imaging. Tambua Health is revolutionizing the diagnosis and treatment of respiratory diseases through non-invasive, precise, and radiation-free lung imaging and function testing using advanced acoustic technology.
Octopus.Health, based in Tel Aviv, Israel, and founded in 2018 by Yoav Ariav, has secured $5.9M in funding to revolutionize patient engagement and proactive population health management. This innovative platform introduces a Healthcare Personal Assistant, powered by advanced machine learning algorithms, to support millions of patients. It crafts personalized, proactive healthcare plans, ensuring personalized patient adherence management through behavioral profiling. Octopus.Health's AI-driven approach not only salvages thousands of appointments annually but also enhance medication adherence and diagnostic testing compliance, significantly improving clinical management and patient care quality.
Viebeg Technologies, founded in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2018 by Tobias Reiter and Alex Musyoka, has raised $1.9M to pioneer a data-driven procurement platform tailored for the healthcare sector. Leveraging artificial intelligence, Viebeg ensures hospitals in hard-to-serve markets maintain optimal medical supply levels, facilitating automatic, transparent, and efficient procurement processes. With a commercial footprint in Kenya, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Viebeg serves over 500 customers. Targeting a $4B+ market in East and Central Africa, the company has become increasingly vital, especially with the Covid-19 pandemic highlighting the urgent need to fortify medical supply chains and meet the soaring demand for healthcare supplies.
Sweetch, based in Tel Aviv, Israel, and founded in 2013 by Yossi Bahagon, Yoni Nevo, and Keren Shavit, has raised $35.5M to advance its mission of large-scale prediction, prevention, and management of chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and obesity. The company's AI-driven platform stands out for its scalable and cost-effective approach to support individuals at risk of these conditions, particularly prediabetics, by promoting a healthier lifestyle. Sweetch's fully automated digital therapeutic solution, requiring no human intervention, uniquely integrates support for multiple chronic conditions and their comorbidities, marking a significant leap in remote health management.
Founded in the USA in 2018 by David Tannenbaum, Jason Pope, and Michael Fishman, Celeri Health has introduced a groundbreaking software platform with a funding of $181.5B. This platform utilizes Patient-Reported Outcome (PRO) tools from the NIH PROMIS system to screen and assess the daily experiences of patients. While Celeri Health's Real World Outcomes platform is not an EHR, it boasts seamless integration capabilities with nearly any EHR system. Designed as a PRO registry, it enables practices to gather critical data for informing the care of chronic pain patients. This includes capturing detailed device data and even offers integration with FitBit devices, enhancing patient care and outcomes.
RevKeep provides a software solution designed to ease the burden on healthcare providers by streamlining the post-payment medical audit process. Based in Birmingham, Michigan, and founded by Kevin Lasser in 2017 with $100K in funding, RevKeep's software centralizes the management of claims and audit responses. It efficiently tracks, completes, and submits audit responses within crucial deadlines. The tool minimizes the effort and disruption associated with recovery audits, simplifying the intricacies of healthcare billing and post-payment audits for healthcare providers.
Droxi's AI technology offers a solution for primary care physicians in Israel, focusing on minimizing the time dedicated to administrative tasks and enhancing patient care quality through Patient-Specific Storytelling. Founded in 2021 by Gadi Shenhar and Raveh Ben Simon, this tool streamlines the review of patient records by eliminating the need to navigate through numerous tabs and fields. Instead, Droxi highlights and visualizes the most pertinent clinical information for each task, allowing physicians to efficiently complete their responsibilities. This innovation in healthcare management significantly aids in focusing more on patient care and less on paperwork.
ArdenMed is a philanthropic initiative powered by over 30 dedicated volunteers globally, striving to combat the preventable deaths of hundreds of thousands annually. Founded by Alan Thomas in 2019 and operating out of the USA and New Zealand, this project focuses on creating an oxygen concentrator that is not only more cost-effective and energy-efficient but also capable of producing oxygen reliably for extended periods. The oxygen concentrators developed by ArdenMed are specifically designed to meet the critical needs of low and middle-income countries, offering a sustainable solution to a pressing healthcare challenge.
In the healthcare sector, artificial intelligence is already making significant strides in enhancing patient care, clinician practices, and the operations of pharmaceutical companies, marking just the initial phase of a transformative journey. AI's applications in healthcare are diverse, ranging from handling phone calls, scrutinizing medical records, and analyzing public health data to designing drugs and medical devices, interpreting radiology scans, diagnosing conditions, and engaging in patient conversations.
The World Economic Forum highlights that AI will harness various data sources to identify disease patterns and support treatments, enabling medical systems to forecast patients' disease risks and recommend preventive actions. These technological advancements are expected to reduce patient wait times and increase hospital efficiency, ushering in an era of proactive and predictive healthcare delivery.
