A startup behind an automatic transcription and notetaking tool powered by artificial intelligence that's built for medical professionals has closed on a $30 million funding round. It's one of the biggest rounds for a Pittsburgh startup this year.
The close of the Series B funding round for Abridge AI Inc., based in Pittsburgh, brings the company's total funding amount to $62.5 million since its founding in 2018.
Abridge's platform can analyze and summarize doctor-patient conversations in real-time to provide clinicians and patients with structured information based on their discussion. It’s part of an effort Abridge hopes will aid health care enterprises in reducing clinician burnout, improving patient satisfaction and achieving better outcomes.
Spark Capital, a prominent Boston-based venture capital firm, led the round for Abridge. Bessemer Venture Partners, an existing investor, also participated as did the investment arms behind well-known health care firms like CVS Health Ventures, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Lifepoint Health, Mayo Clinic, SCAN Group, UC (University of California) Investments and the American College of Cardiology.
"The investment and support of these iconic institutions is a game-changer for Abridge, dramatically accelerating what we can do to solve a critical issue facing every health system," Dr. Shiv Rao, co-founder and CEO of Abridge, said in a prepared statement. "We are grateful to have an extraordinary and rapidly expanding group of partners who share our ambition to preserve the empathy and humanity in health care by enabling clinicians to be more present with their patients."
Funding will primarily used for the scaling of its tech's footprint beyond its existing establishment in multiple health care systems across the country. Abridge said the funding will also be used expand its go-to-market and customer success teams in addition to continued investment into the research and development efforts behind its AI platform as it seeks to expand into workflows beyond those of clinical notetaking.
Abridge did not disclose how much of its workforce is based in Pittsburgh, nor did it share revenue figures other than noting it is generating income as its tech gets used by thousands of clinicians in the U.S. at more than 140 locations, including those at facilities run by the University of Kansas Health System, UPMC and Emory Healthcare.
Pittsburgh Inno named the firm as one of its 10 Startups to Watch in 2023 last April.
