Healthleap raises $38M for AI that flags at-risk hospital patients

In short: Healthleap raised $38 million to expand software that reviews hospital records and flags patients who may need a closer look.

What happened

Healthleap, a startup founded in South Africa in 2022, raised $38 million across two funding rounds. The funding includes an $8 million seed round co-led by Sequoia Capital and First Round Capital, and a $30 million Series A led by Hummingbird Ventures. The company did not share its valuation.

Healthleap builds an AI system that connects to a hospital’s electronic health record, which is the main digital file where staff keep patient information. It scans both structured data like lab results and vital signs, and unstructured data like doctors’ and nurses’ written notes. You can think of it like a highlighter that goes through a long file overnight and marks places a care team may want to review.

The company says its software does not diagnose anyone. Instead, it produces a risk score and shows supporting details in a dashboard that fits into a hospital’s existing workflow.

Healthleap says it is already used in more than 50 hospitals. It screens for conditions such as malnutrition and delirium, and it is testing programs for issues like aspiration pneumonia, pressure ulcers, and risk of readmission for congestive heart failure.

Why it matters

Hospitals have a lot of information to review, and important warning signs can be buried in written notes. If tools like Healthleap help staff spot problems earlier, patients may get help sooner, and hospitals may reduce complications and time spent in the hospital.

Source: TechCrunch AI