[Funding alert] Suki.AI raises $55M Series C round, will focus on product development, expansion of user base

Suki AI, founded by ex-Google and Flipkart product honcho Punit Soni, has raised Series C funding of $55 million, led by March Capital, with additional support from Philips Ventures, and all previous investors, including Venrock, Flare Capital, Breyer Capital, and inHealth Ventures.

The round also comprised super-angels, who are leading figures in technology, healthcare, and finance, including Gaingels Group, Pankaj Patel (ex-Chief Development Officer of Cisco), Andrew Deutsch (CEO of RIMA Radiology), and Russell Farscht (former Managing Director of The Carlyle Group).

Founded in 2017, Suki.AI aims to be a one-stop platform for doctors – much like Google is as a search engine.

Punit said the healthtech startup had tied up with Google on the business front, and saw “larger potential in terms of the healthcare cloud ecosystem” He added that Google hasn’t invested in the company, but they saw deeper partnerships with corporates like Google and Philips while these are still in play.

Suki.AI is looking at expanding their India business in 2022. “We have hired top product talent in the country, and started an offsite office so we can further touch the Indian market. We look at ourselves as an India and a US company, and more of a global company,” he said.

Suki.AI will use this funding to make strategic investments that will lead to an expansion of its user base through new and existing partnerships with leading health systems and medical groups while bolstering employee growth and development.

The startup also plans to advance the AI capabilities of Suki Assistant, its voice-enabled digital assistant, and Suki Speech Platform, its proprietary voice platform, and add new features that streamline documentation, coding, and other administrative tasks for physicians.

Suki uses natural language processing and machine learning to create clinically accurate medical notes and streamlines administrative tasks, such as retrieving patient information from the electronic health record (EHR) or ICD-10 coding.

As a true digital clinical assistant, Suki supports doctors practising in any clinical setting, as well as any specialty, including cardiology, orthopaedics, plastic surgery, ophthalmology, paediatrics, and family medicine.

Providers can use a wide variety of voice commands to complete tasks, further personalising the voice-enabled experience and streamlining workflows.

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Former Flipkart, Google exec Punit Soni aims to build healthcare tech giant with Suki.AI

“How come healthcare, which contributes five to seven percent of every country’s GDP and is always needed, does not have a single tech company close to the size of Google, Amazon or Facebook?” asks Punit, stating that the largest tech company in the world “has to be in healthcare”.

Speaking on the investment, Wes Nichols, Partner at March Capital, said they were instantly drawn to Suki’s mission to help healthcare organisations lift the administrative burden from doctors so they could focus on taking care of their patients.

“My first exposure to Suki was observing my doctor using his phone to update his EHR and pharmacy, which compelled me to ask him what he was using. He was thrilled with Suki as a user, and I knew I had to meet the founder.

"Doctor burnout is a public health crisis, which makes Suki’s cutting-edge AI-powered voice assistant a game-changing solution for doctors and health systems everywhere. We look forward to working closely with Punit and the Suki team, and applying March’s operational and industry expertise to accelerate Suki’s growth and product innovation,” Wes said.