From Virtual Nurses To Drug Discovery: 106 Artificial Intelligence Startups In Healthcare

The number of startups entering the healthcare AI space has increased in recent years, with over 50 companies raising their first equity rounds since January 2015. Deals to healthcare-focused AI startups went up from less than 20 in 2012 to nearly 70 in 2016. Last year also saw two new unicorns emerge in the space: China-based iCarbonX and oncology-focused Flatiron Health.

“By 2025, AI systems could be involved in everything from population health management, to digital avatars capable of answering specific patient queries.” — Harpreet Singh Buttar, analyst at Frost & Sullivan.

We identified over 100 companies that are applying machine learning algorithms and predictive analytics to reduce drug discovery times, provide virtual assistance to patients, and diagnose ailments by processing medical images, among other things.

We first published the market map below in April 2016 and it has been updated as new companies have entered the field. The market map includes companies in the space that have raised an equity funding round since January 2013 and excludes exited companies like MetaMind, which was recently acquired by Salesforce. It is not meant to be exhaustive of companies in the space.

Click on the image to enlarge.

A few investment highlights:

• Increasingly crowded imaging & diagnostics: 19 out of the 24 companies under imaging & diagnostics raised their first equity funding round since January 2015 (this includes seed or Series A rounds, as well as a first round raised by stealth startup Imagen Technologies). In 2014, Butterfly Networks raised a $100M Series C, backed by Aeris Capital and Stanford University. This was one of the largest equity rounds to an AI in healthcare company, after China-based iCarbonX’s $154M mega-round and two $100M+ raises by oncology-focused Flatiron Health.
• Remote patient monitoring: London-based Babylon Health, backed by investors including Kinnevik and Google-owned DeepMind Technologies, raised a $25M Series A round in 2016 to develop an AI-based chat platform. New York-based AiCure raised $12.3M in Series A funding from investors including Biomatics Capital Partners, New Leaf Venture Partners, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, and Tribeca Venture Partners, for the use of artificial intelligence to ensure patients are taking their medications. California-based Sense.ly has developed a virtual nursing assistant, Molly, to follow up with patients post-discharge. The company claims Molly gives clinicians “20% of their day back.” Sentrian, backed by investors including Frost Data Capital, analyzes biosensor data and sends patient-specific alerts to clinicians.
• Core AI companies bring their algorithms to healthcare: Core AI startup Ayasdi, which has developed a machine intelligence platform based on topological data analysis, is bringing its solutions to healthcare providers for applications including patient risk scoring and readmission reduction. Other core AI startups looking at healthcare include H2O.ai and Digital Reasoning Systems.
• Top VCs: Khosla Ventures and Data Collective are the top VC investors in healthcare AI startups, and have backed 5 unique companies each. Khosla Ventures backed California-based Ginger.io, which focuses on patients with depression and anxiety; healthcare analytics platform Lumiata; Israel’s Zebra Medical Vision and California-based Bay Labs, which applies AI to medical imaging; as well as drug discovery startup Atomwise. Data Collective backed imaging & diagnostics startups Enlitic, Bay Labs and Freenome, analytics platform CloudmedX, and previously mentioned Atomwise.
• Drug discovery is also gaining attention: Startups are using machine learning algorithms to reduce drug discovery times, and VCs have backed 6 out of the 9 startups on the map. Andreessen Horowitz recently seed funded twoXAR, developer of the DUMA drug discovery platform; Khosla Ventures and Data Collective backed Atomwise, which published its first findings of Ebola treatment drugs last year, and has also partnered with MERCK; Lightspeed Venture Partners invested in Numedii in 2013; Foundation Capital participated in 3 equity funding rounds to Numerate.
• AI in oncology: IBM Watson Group-backed Pathway Genomics has recently started a research study for its new blood test kit, CancerIntercept Detect. The company will collect blood samples from high-risk individuals who have never been diagnosed with the disease to determine if early detection is possible. Other oncology-focused startups include Flatiron Health, Cyrcadia (wearable device), CureMetrix, SkinVision, Entopsis, and Smart Healthcare.