For investors deeply passionate about healthcare, there is no dearth of excitement and inspiration in contemporary times. Specifically, we are now seeing modern technology platforms being developed on the back of transformative progress in computer vision, computational technologies and methods, and the ability for systems to interconnect, in addition to sophisticated data modeling capabilities, among others. This innovation has served as the foundation for a new generation of healthcare software companies to take on massive industry challenges, including high-impact areas such as democratizing patient access, improving the quality of care, reducing drug discovery and development timelines, enabling frictionless payment and collections, and driving efficiencies in business processes and operational workflows. Aidoc is one such healthcare technology company with a vision to be the intelligence layer for medical imaging diagnostics and care coordination.
Aidoc was founded in 2016 by CEO Elad Walach, CTO Michael Braginsky, VP of R&D Guy Reiner and CMO Gal Yaniv who met while serving in the Israeli Defense Force’s Talpiot program, an elite technology program focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) research. The company’s platform consists of 20 medical applications, including 15 FDA-cleared algorithms, designed to drive speed, efficiency, and accuracy of diagnosis in medical imaging and multidisciplinary coordination of care in the context of more complex episodes – stroke and pulmonary emboli, specifically.
Medical imaging represents a massive component of overall healthcare spend – the U.S. spends approximately $118 billion on imaging services annually, and expenditures are projected to grow approximately 7% per year for the foreseeable future. For complex patient cases, clinical personnel across multiple medical specialties must be engaged in order to determine the appropriate treatment. Historically, this coordination of care across stakeholders has proven challenging, lacked systemization, and been performed largely via offline methods. As healthcare providers have introduced more multidisciplinary programs and increasingly look to standardize the provision of care across them, technologies that enable care coordination and provider collaboration across specialties have become increasingly important.
Aidoc’s mission is to leverage AI and workflow software to drive multidisciplinary care coordination and deliver the right diagnosis, at the right time, to the right physician. To that end, Aidoc has developed a technology platform that applies the company’s 15 FDA-cleared algorithms – with many more on the way – to a radiologist’s queue in order to prioritize and triage patient cases. Further, the company’s growing repository of millions of annotated medical images is used to continually improve its algorithms over time. Importantly, Aidoc’s AI is “always on,” and the platform applies the company’s algorithms to every case simultaneously, allowing cases in more urgent need of intervention to be elevated for review regardless of where they fall in the queue. Following triage and diagnosis, Aidoc’s software also enables clinical personnel to coordinate the downstream provision of care by facilitating information sharing and communication across multiple stakeholders. Finally, and perhaps most impressively, the company’s platform integrates seamlessly within the existing operational workflows and clinical protocols of its customers.
Aidoc’s customers include a number of large health systems in the U.S., including HCA, Northwell Health, The Mayo Clinic, and Cedars-Sinai. The company also has a meaningful presence internationally, with customers that include Antwerp University Hospital, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Sheba Medical Center, and Alfred Health, among others. Finally, Aidoc also has partner relationships with leading radiology service providers, including Radiology Partners and Everlight Radiology.
The company’s customers derive value from Aidoc’s platform in terms of: a) increased diagnostic efficiency, b) improved prioritization and triage of the most complex or urgent cases, c) higher-quality diagnoses and reduced diagnostic error-rates, and d) more systematized, streamlined coordination of patient care. The company’s compelling value proposition, coupled with its reputation for high-velocity, relentless innovation and above-and-beyond customer delivery and support, has engendered customer delight. As evidence, Aidoc boasts an average net promoter score of between 80 and 90.
TCV’s healthcare team has spent the last several quarters prioritizing companies that provide AI technology across various applications for the healthcare industry. Most recently, this focus led to our investments in BenchSci, a provider of AI software for driving productivity in preclinical research for the life sciences industry, and Syllable, a provider of AI technology for provider business process automation (and soon payor and other healthcare sub-sectors).
Our Series D investment in Aidoc, completed in partnership with our friends at Alpha Intelligence Capital, General Catalyst, Square Peg Capital, and Emerge Ventures, represents another illustration of our thesis, this time for diagnostic and care coordination use cases. The Series D funding is intended to help Aidoc expand the company’s AI and ML software platform into additional applications, rapidly scale headcount, and forward invest in future growth initiatives. We are particularly excited about Elad’s vision for both the business and future of patient care, in addition to the company’s recent momentum that has established Aidoc as an emerging leader in the category. Elad has also lined-up an impressive team of advisors and experts to advise the company, including TCV Venture Partner Anita Pramoda.
“Of the various AI and ML use cases in healthcare, Aidoc’s is the one that I’m particularly excited about – their technology immediately improves patient outcomes and drives efficiencies for clinical personnel,” says Anita Pramoda, TCV Venture Partner. “Exponential patient and provider value will continue to be realized as Elad and the team roll out new algorithms, software applications, and integrations. In the future, instant diagnosis of conditions will transform patient care as we know it, and most importantly, save lives.”
Value proposition and momentum notwithstanding, what also impressed us is the humble, high-learning, and customer-centric culture Elad and his team have developed that permeates throughout the organization. Starting with Elad, it was clear during our diligence that the Aidoc team is mission-driven and firmly committed to using their team members’ talents to develop technology that improves patient outcomes through AI-driven care coordination. The results speak for themselves – Aidoc is a top-ranked employer on Glassdoor.
“With healthcare institutions facing labor shortages and navigating difficult economic situations, the future is predicated on value-based care that is enabled by automation technologies like AI and ML,” says Aidoc CEO Elad Walach. “But AI and ML are not enough in singular use cases – they must be applied across the entirety of a healthcare enterprise in order to deliver value-based care to the extent that would make a deep impact – an intelligence layer covering the entire patient lifecycle. That’s where we believe our AI Care Platform will transform healthcare. Partnering with TCV – a team that truly understands the importance of value-based care – gives us the support we need to manifest our vision.”
We are off to the races in our partnership with Elad and the Aidoc team, and are incredibly excited to help build a category-defining, generational software company that helps improve patient outcomes through AI-driven care coordination.
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The views and opinions expressed are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of TCMI, Inc. or its affiliates (“TCV”). TCV has not verified the accuracy of any statements by the speakers and disclaims any responsibility therefor. This blog post is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any private fund managed or sponsored by TCV or any of the securities of any company discussed. The TCV portfolio companies identified, if any, are not necessarily representative of all TCV investments, and no assumption should be made that the investments identified were or will be profitable. For a complete list of TCV investments, please visit www.tcv.com/all-companies/. For additional important disclaimers regarding this interview and blog post, please see “Informational Purposes Only” in the Terms of Use for TCV’s website, available at http://www.tcv.com/terms-of-use/
