Dive Brief:
Kaiser Permanente’s venture capital arm participated in Clarium’s $27 million Series A funding round, the AI supply chain startup said.
Clarium, which launched in 2020, helps hospitals automate supply chain operations, using AI to manage inventory and determine whether health systems might have appropriate substitutes on hand for medical supplies. The startup has raised $43 million to date, according to last week’s press release.
Kaiser’s investment in Clarium comes as supply chain resiliency is top of mind for providers. The sector overspends on its supply chain by over $25 billion annually, according to a Guidehouse analysis cited by Clarium, which the startup said is largely due to data processing inefficiencies. Costs could climb further if unusual weather events and tariffs pressure supply chains, the startup said.
Dive Insight:
Since the beginning of the year, providers have been considering supply chain chain resiliency as a strategic priority.
Last year, a series of natural disasters served as a wake-up call about the fragility of supply chains. In the Southeast, the temporary closure of a major IV fluid manufacturing facility in North Carolina following Hurricane Helene disrupted the flow of IV fluids for the majority of the nation’s hospitals, and HCA Healthcare owned-Mission Hospital had to bus in supplies for weeks to Western North Carolina after the same hurricane disrupted access to basics like running water and fuel. Out West, hospitals similarly reported feeling the strain from wildfires in January.
Hospital groups have also worried that President Donald Trump’s trade agenda could disrupt supply chains, warning that tariffs threaten providers’ ability to access critical medical supplies and equipment necessary to provide care.
Clarium aims to help mitigate some of this uncertainty. The platform both offers inventory management for clients and predicts broader supply chain disruptions based on weather, geopolitical and current events data, according to the press release. The startup then provides recommendations for how health systems can swap threatened supplies to prevent disruptions to productivity.
Clarium currently partners with several major health systems, including Yale New Haven Health, Kaiser and Kasier-owned Geisinger, Ochsner Health, Boston Children’s Hospital, Cleveland Clinic and Sutter Health.
Kaiser’s investment arm has previously backed a number of point solutions addressing critical concerns in healthcare, including home healthcare tools, generative AI for clinical documentation and cybersecurity solutions. The venture capital firm has waded into the supply chain space previously, through an investment in Broadlane.
