Listen to the article
3 minutes

This audio is automatically generated. Please let us know if you have any comments.

Diving brief:

• Artificial intelligence documentation startup Suki has raised $70 million in a Series D funding round, the company announced Thursday.
• Suki’s AI assistant listens to conversations between patients and providers and automatically generates a clinical note. Clinicians can also dictate information to the assistant, and the tool can suggest codes and surface relevant medical details from the electronic health record.
• The funds will allow the startup to accelerate new product development, invest in commercial initiatives and expand its management team, Suki said in a press release.

Dive overview:

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 rally 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 its partnerships with health systems.

Documentation is a popular use case for AI in healthcare. Microsoft-owned Nuance Communications offers its own AI note taking product, and the tech giant announced this week that it is developing a documentation tool aimed at nurses. Another documentation company, Abridge, raised $150 million in Series C funding earlier this year.

Suki has deployed or expanded agreements with more than a dozen health systems and hospitals over the past two months, the startup said in a press release.

Along with the funding news, the company said it has expanded its agreement with Columbia, Maryland-based MedStar Health. Suki has partnered with MedStar for more than four years and participated 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 agreement, Suki’s AI assistant will be available to thousands of MedStar clinicians in outpatient specialties like primary care and cardiology, as well as in urgent care centers. A spokesperson declined to share financial details of the partnership.

Venture capitalists have shown growing interest in funding AI startups. Nearly 40% of digital health companies that signed deals in the first half used AI, according to a report from consulting and venture capital firm Rock Health.

More broadly, digital health funding has declined since an investment boom in 2021. In the third quarter, U.S. startups raised $2.4 billion in venture capital investments in 110 deals, according to Rock Health.