Dive Brief:
Artificial intelligence documentation startup Suki raised $70 million in a Series D funding round, the company said Thursday.
Suki’s AI assistant listens to conversations between patients and providers and automatically generates a clinical note. Clinicians can dictate information to the assistant as well, and the tool can suggest codes and surface relevant medical details from the electronic health record.
The funds will allow the startup to speed new product development, invest in commercial initiatives and expand its leadership team, Suki said in a press release.
Dive Insight:
The startup’s latest funding round, led by London-based venture capital firm Hedosophia, brings Suki’s total funding to $165 million. Other investors participating in the rise include Venrock, March Capital, Flare Capital, Breyer Capital and inHealth Ventures.
The company attributed its new funding to the “strength” of its integrations with EHR vendors — like Epic, Oracle Health and Meditech — and partnerships with health systems.
Documentation is a popular use case for AI in healthcare. Microsoft-owned Nuance Communications offers its own AI notetaking product, and the technology giant this week said it was developing a documentation tool geared toward nurses. Another documentation company, Abridge, raised $150 million in Series C funding early this year.
Suki had deployed or expanded deals with more than a dozen health systems and hospitals in the last two months, the startup said in a press release.
Alongside the funding news, the company said it had expanded its agreement with Columbia, Maryland-based MedStar Health. Suki has partnered with MedStar for more than four years, participating in a successful pilot program, Jeff Collins, vice president of the MedStar Institute for Innovation Business Innovation Lab, said in a statement.
Under the expanded deal, Suki’s AI assistant will be available to thousands of MedStar clinicians in ambulatory specialties like primary care and cardiology, as well as in urgent care locations. A spokesperson declined to share financial details of the partnership.
Venture capital investors have shown increased interest in funding AI startups. Nearly 40% of the digital health companies that inked deals in the first half of the year used AI, according to a report by consultancy and venture capital firm Rock Health.
Digital health funding more generally has declined since an investment boom in 2021. In the third quarter, U.S. startups raised $2.4 billion in venture capital investment across 110 deals, according to Rock Health.
