In a significant milestone for the healthcare AI industry, Hippocratic AI, the innovative company founded by Munjal Shah, has successfully raised $53 million in a Series A funding round, valuing the startup at an impressive $500 million. This substantial investment was spearheaded by Premji Invest and General Catalyst, with valuable contributions from SV Angel, Memorial Hermann Health System, and existing investors, including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Bio + Health, Cincinnati Children’s, WellSpan Health, and Universal Health Services. With this latest influx of capital, Hippocratic AI’s total funding has surpassed $120 million.
At the core of Munjal Shah’s vision lies a steadfast commitment to prioritizing safety in developing and deploying healthcare AI solutions. This principle is deeply ingrained in the company’s ethos, as evidenced by its strategic partnerships and meticulous testing protocols.
One of Hippocratic AI’s key initiatives is developing a strategic alliance with chipmaker Nvidia to reduce latency for real-time patient interactions. Munjal Shah explained, “Nvidia’s technology stack is critical to achieving the conversational speed and fluidity necessary for patients to naturally build an emotional connection with Hippocratic’s Generative AI healthcare agents.”
This partnership underscores the company’s dedication to creating AI agents to engage in seamless, natural patient conversations, fostering trust and rapport – essential elements in delivering effective healthcare services.
Hippocratic AI’s approach to training its large language models (LLMs) further emphasizes the company’s focus on safety. Initial training phases involve extensive evidence-based research and simulated conversations crafted in collaboration with licensed nurses and patient actors. Subsequent iterations incorporate AI-generated discussions meticulously reviewed and refined by healthcare professionals, ensuring a continuous cycle of improvement and adaptation.
To validate the safety and efficacy of its AI agents, Hippocratic AI has engaged over 1,100 U.S.-licensed nurses and more than 130 U.S.-licensed physicians in rigorous testing across various parameters, including medical safety, conversational appropriateness, and empathy. The company’s Phase 3 testing criteria mandate the involvement of 5,000 licensed nurses, 500 licensed physicians, and enterprise health system collaborators, underscoring Munjal Shah’s unwavering commitment to safety.
“We’re going to sit here until it’s safe, as determined by clinicians,” Shah stated firmly, emphasizing the company’s patient-centric approach.
Early results from Hippocratic AI’s internal research have been encouraging, with the company’s LLMs demonstrating superior performance compared to human nurses and other AI systems in several key areas. For instance, the AI delivered correct medical advice 96.79% of the time, outperforming human nurses, who scored 81.16%. Moreover, the LLMs exhibited exceptional abilities in recognizing medication impacts on lab tests, identifying disallowed over-the-counter drugs, and detecting toxic OTC dosages, surpassing the performance of human nurses, Google’s Llama 2, and even OpenAI’s GPT-4.
The recent funding round will enable Hippocratic AI to accelerate its product development efforts and refine its safety testing protocols. By leveraging the expertise and resources of its strategic partners, the company aims to pave the way for the responsible integration of AI into non-diagnostic healthcare applications, addressing the global shortage of healthcare professionals while maintaining the highest standards of patient safety and care.
As the healthcare industry continues to embrace the transformative potential of artificial intelligence, Munjal Shah’s Hippocratic AI stands as a beacon of responsible innovation. With a steadfast commitment to safety, strategic partnerships, and a clear vision for the future of healthcare AI, Hippocratic AI is poised to play a pivotal role in shaping the industry’s evolution, ensuring that cutting-edge technology is harnessed to enhance patient care and support overburdened healthcare systems worldwide.
