Last class, on October 25, we had Valerie Mann talk to us about venture funds and how a startup can obtain funding. I came across this company called Abridge that is an app that uses AI to summarize patient notes to help medical professionals with their administrative and clerical work. Founded in 2018, this app is already on the market and is a privately owned company. In February 2024, the company raised another $150 million with its main investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and Redpoint Ventures valuing the company at $850 million. Just four months before that, the company received $30 million in funding.
I think that this company is a great example of a startup in its later stages, closer to the Exit stage that Valerie Mann pointed out. I think that this is an interesting company to bring up in the context of our class, as we have talked a lot about AI and how it could change the legal industry. This is an example of AI changing the medical industry and it seems almost unsurprising that they would receive funding. As Valerie Mann highlighted in class, there is a lack of diversity when it comes to investing in startups, and although I believe that this is a great invention and use of resources, it demonstrates how startup funding is often given to tech based companies and that there is a lack of diversity in the types of businesses granted venture capital.
Sources:
“Abridge Emerges as a Healthcare AI Leader, Raising $150M to Accelerate R&D”, February 23, 2024, https://www.abridge.com/press-release/series-c-150, Accessed October 26, 2024.
Hu, Krystal, “Healthcare Startup Abridge Raises $150 mln for AI Model for Clinicians”, February 22, 2024, https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/healthcare-startup-abridge-raises-150-mln-ai-model-clinicians-2024-02-23/, Accessed October 26, 2024.
Valerie Mann’s discussion was very thought provoking in many ways.
Abridge certainly sounds interesting and I couldn’t resist reviewing their corporate structure – while their two founders are men, they do have two women on their board one serving as their COO and the other is their Chief Clinical Officer. The venture capital fund referenced; Lightspeed Venture Partner has 51 partners listed on their “about me” page of which 8 are women. Assuming this information is up to date, this works out to women making up 15.6% of the investing partner’s fund which is slightly higher than the typical average of 11% of women making up investing partners at VC firms.
If anyone is interested in a more in-depth discussion of the gender gap discussion, there is an excellent discussion of Advancing Gender Equality in Venture Capital the Harvard Kennedy School. https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/wappp/research/past/venture-capital-entrepreneurship
Great post Kristy!