Healthleap, a startup focused on developing an AI platform to analyze patient records for undiagnosed illnesses, has successfully raised $38 million in seed and Series A funding. This financing includes an $8 million seed round co-led by Sequoia Capital and First Round Capital, along with a $30 million Series A led by Hummingbird Ventures. The company has not disclosed its valuation.
Company Background
Founded in 2022 in South Africa by siblings Jemima and Josiah Meyer, Healthleap initially provided a clinical nutrition tool designed for dietitians. However, the startup pivoted to create a more comprehensive platform aimed at identifying patients in hospitals who may suffer from conditions like malnutrition or delirium, which are often overlooked.
Technology and Approach
According to Josiah Meyer, CEO and co-founder, "A patient’s chart holds two kinds of data. Labs, weights, and vital signs sit in structured fields, but the most telling signs sit in clinicians’ written notes: poor appetite, recent weight loss, muscle loss, trouble swallowing." Healthleap's approach extracts affirmative or negated mentions of these clinical concepts in a scalable manner.
The platform is currently deployed in over 50 hospitals, screening for conditions such as malnutrition and delirium. Additionally, it is developing programs to identify aspiration pneumonia, pressure ulcers, and the risk of readmission for congestive heart failure, which are undergoing further clinical validation.
