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Healthcare technology company Heidi has raised $65 million in a Series B round, boosting total funding to nearly $100 million and valuing the fast-growing group at $465 million.
The latest capital injection by the Melbourne-based company follows the US$16 million ($25.7 million) raised in March this year as a follow-on investment round to a Series A in 2023.
The Series B was led by Point72 Private Investments with participation from existing investors Blackbird, Headline and Latitude, the growth fund of Phoenix Court.
Heidi, developer of an artificial intelligence-powered medical scribe, plans to use the funds to drive its mission to build an “AI Care Partner” that sits alongside clinicians, expanding their capacity by automating tasks such as clinical documentation, evidence search and follow-up communications.
The company notes that while clinicians spend nearly as much time on administration as on patient care, in the past 18 months its platform has returned more than 18 million hours to frontline clinicians by streamlining critical administrative tasks.
“It is untenable that healthcare demand continues to rise while clinical time continues to shrink,” says Dr Thomas Kelly, a former vascular surgical resident who is CEO and co-founder of Heidi.
“Building a sustainable healthcare system requires expanding clinical capacity without compromising clinician wellbeing or patient safety.
“That’s why I founded Heidi: to build an AI Care Partner that stands alongside clinicians, empowering them to deliver the care to which they have dedicated their lives.”
Heidi says it is supporting “tens of thousands of clinicians from over 200 medical specialties” to ease administrative overload.
Over the past 18 months, Heidi estimates that it has supported 73 million patient consults while currently supporting more than two million consults a week in 110 languages across 116 countries.
As part of this Series B funding round, Heidi will continue to expand its staff headcount, office locations and local support in the US, UK and Canadian markets.
The company also plans to build on clinician-led adoption in France, Spain, Germany, Ireland, South Africa, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Heidi is making inroads into primary care, hospitals and healthcare systems globally with several majors exploring the company’s AI capabilities.
In the UK, Heidi has been selected by Modality Partnership in the largest deployment of ambient AI in the UK.
In the US it is working with Beth Israel Lahey Health, the largest network of hospitals in Massachusetts, while it is cited as a “transformation partner” by MaineGeneral, one of the largest hospital networks in Maine which operates the biggest outpatient centre in the state.
In Canada, Heidi is the official choice of the Yukon Government. In Australia’s public health system, with Monash Health, the company is serving a local population about 1.6 million across 40 facilities including seven hospitals, while it is also working with the Queensland Health Children’s Hospital and Health Service.
“We believe administrative burden is contributing to clinician burnout and capacity challenges across healthcare systems,” says Sri Chandrasekar, managing partner at Point72 Private Investments.
“Heidi’s platform has the potential to meaningfully improve how clinicians manage their administrative workflows.
“We’re impressed by the adoption rates they’ve demonstrated within health systems and are excited to support their vision of expanding healthcare capacity while preserving the human touch in patient care.”
In tandem with the capital raise, Heidi has announced the appointment of former head of revenue at Plaid, Paul Williamson, as chief revenue officer and Dr Simon Kos as chief medical officer.
“During my career, I’ve chosen to work with companies that have transformed their respective industries - from Salesforce in customer relationship management to Plaid in financial services,” says Williamson.
“Today, I join Heidi’s mission to redefine healthcare in the age of AI.”
Kos, who was previously chief medical officer of Microsoft, sees Heidi’s mission as not only improving the experience of clinicians delivering care but also that of the patients receiving it.
“Heidi’s bold vision extends beyond the current promise of ambient voice technology and into a future where every clinician can leverage AI to expand their clinical capacity while protecting the human touch in healthcare,” says Kos.
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