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Melbourne-headquartered healthcare technology company Heidi has raised US$16 million ($25.7 million) in a follow-on investment round to a Series A in 2023 amid a strong take-up of the startup's AI-driven technology that aims to transform the way clinicians work globally.
The funding round was led by US venture capitalist Headline, with participation from LocalGlobe, Anthology (Menlo Ventures and Anthropic) and existing investors Blackbird, HESTA, Possible Ventures and Archangel Ventures.
It also takes total capital raised since inception in 2021 to more than $40 million, including the $10 million Series A in 2023.
The strength of the latest round comes on the heels of the Heidi platform hitting its strides with deployment to more than million sessions per week globally.
Heidi reports that the total number of consultations it has assisted since launch in February last year has now surpassed the 20 million mark.
It’s a rapid pace of take-up that Headline has likened to that of tech unicorns Atlassian and Canva.
Founded by Dr Thomas Kelly, Waleed Mussa and Yu Liu, Heidi’s AI-driven system harnesses a doctor’s expertise and medical context to enable clinicians to automate mundane and time-consuming administrative tasks such as scribing – or making notes on patient care after a consultation.
Heidi will use its new funding to expand its capabilities beyond scribing with its enhanced functionality to include creating pre-chart summaries, accessing clinical guidelines for treatments and management pathways, and engaging with patients outside the clinic.
By automating these tasks, the company says it can unshackle clinicians from their computers and put them back at their patient’s side.
“Despite clinicians' passion for patient care and significant investment in their medical education, they are overwhelmed by an unsustainable administrative workload that drags them away from their clinical responsibilities,” says Kelly, CEO of Heidi and a former vascular surgical resident.
“This destroys their wellbeing and drains away job satisfaction, resulting in an exodus of talented clinicians from the workforce - further reducing the capacity of our already frail healthcare systems.
“That’s why I founded Heidi – to free doctors from non-clinical work so they can focus on their patients and enjoy fulfilling careers in medicine.”
Clinicians currently use Heidi in more than one million consultations every week with the scribe operating ambiently in the background to take notes on patient medical conditions. Heidi points out that the platform does not store session recordings and is fully compliant with region-specific privacy and data security regulations across the globe, meaning it can safely be used in all practice settings.
“Heidi's approach to the medical scribe market is truly differentiated,” says Taylor Brandt, partner at Headline.
“What sets Heidi apart are their bold choices: prioritising customisation over complex integrations, their global-first strategy, and building a product-led motion out of Australia that rivals tech giants like Canva and Atlassian.
“In just one year, they're already facilitating one million consultations weekly across five countries which far outstrips other AI scribe offerings - an extraordinary testament to how perfectly they've addressed clinicians' needs.”
Heidi is being adopted by clinicians in the US, UK and Canada, as well as Australia, while it has reported a rising uptake in the European Union.
"Thanks to its widespread clinical usage, constant feedback, and rapid iteration, Heidi has emerged as the best product in its category,” says Ferdi Sigona, partner at LocalGlobe, a London-based venture capitalist.
“As medical scribes fast become one of the most impactful applications of AI, we believe Heidi is leading the way toward a future where agentic AI will transform healthcare further still.
“We couldn’t be more excited to back a team making such a meaningful difference to clinicians’ lives and patient care."
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