Olive AI, a startup that uses AI to automate error-prone administrative tasks, raised $51 million in funding. The company has experienced a recent growth spurt, expanding to more than 500 hospitals across the U.S.
A startup building AI tools for health systems closed a $51 million funding round. Olive AI said it plans to use the new funding to further its growth; Olive’s AI assistant is already used at more than 500 hospitals across 41 states, including large systems such as Centura Health and OhioHealth.
Technology venture capital firm General Catalyst, which has backed Livongo and Oscar Health, led the $51 million funding round. Previous investors include Drive Capital, and Ascension Ventures and Oak HC/FT, which previously led a $32.8 million funding round in 2018.
In addition to the funding, Olive AI will gain a new board member in Ron Paulus, the former CEO of North Carolina-based Mission Health. Paulus currently serves as an executive-in-residence with General Catalyst. Part of the firm’s strategy is to partner software startups with experienced executives to grow their business.
Columbus, Ohio-based Olive Health uses AI to automate repetitive, error-prone tasks, such as insurance eligibility checks and code matching. For example, Connecticut-based health system Yale New Haven Health previously stated it was using the system to automate prior authorizations.
Olive Health describes its AI, called Olive, as a “digital employee” that is assigned tasks and can provide updates to a manager. It also says the system is EHR-agnostic.
CEO Sean Lane, a software entrepreneur and former Air Force intelligence officer, founded the company in 2012 after he noticed the technology systems used in healthcare were often disconnected from one another.
“The AI workforce is here, and the days of disconnected bots that don’t learn from each other are over,” Lane said in a news release. “The time is now and this investment enables us to accelerate our vision of the internet of healthcare – where when one Olive learns, all Olives learn. We’re on a mission to radically change the way healthcare leverages and views an AI workforce.”
