Clinical AI startup Nabla to focus on agentic automation after raising $70M in funding – News

Nabla Technologies Inc., the creator of an intelligent copilot for doctors and other healthcare professionals, wants to expand into artificial intelligence agents after raising $70 million in its Series C round of funding today.

Today’s round was led by the German venture capitalist firm HV Capital and saw participation from Highland Europe and DST Global, as well as existing backers Cathay Innovation and Build Collective. It brings Nabla’s total amount raised to $120 million.

The company did not disclose a current valuation, but it will almost certainly exceed the $180 million number quoted in January 2024, when it closed on its $24 million Series B round.

Nabla, which is based in Paris and has offices in New York, is the creator of a generative AI assistant for clinicians which takes notes and generates medical reports on their behalf. It’s being used by more than 130 healthcare organizations globally, and can reduce the time spent on writing clinical documents by more than 50%. That helps reduce burnout among clinicians, and also improves overall patient satisfaction, as doctors can spend more time talking to them and figuring out what treatment is required.

The startup says its main aim now is to expand its AI technology to automate more clinical workflows and reduce the time staff spend on repetitive tasks. As part of this effort, it has worked with partner hospitals to co-design new experiences, such as tools that can help nurses create their flow sheets. These partner-specific deployments have paved the way for Nabla to offer new tools such as the dictation tool that it released in January.

With the money from today’s round, Nabla is now hoping to double down on AI agents that can do more than just automate documentation. For instance, it’s working on the development of a real-time coding assistant that will be able to flag billing issues, and a context-aware agent that’s able to surface historical medical data and initiate actions within electronic health records, plus expanded tools for nurses and inpatient staff.

Nabla co-founder and Chief Executive Alex Lebrun (pictured, left, alongside Chief Technology Officer Delphine Groll and Chief Product Officer Martin Raison) said the company wants its agents to dig deeper into clinical workflows and create more customizable assistants specialized in different tasks.

“Clinicians already trust our accuracy and speed, and this funding allows us to expand that impact by embedding intelligent support directly into care delivery,” Lebrun said. “We see a future where AI not only documents care, but actively drives efficiency by executing actions within complex clinical workflows and environments.”

What’s driving this push into agentic AI is the company’s impressive traction over the last six months. During this time, Nabla says, it managed to increase its revenue by more than five times. It claims that its AI assistants are now used by more than 85,000 clinicians globally, including more than 20,000 based in the U.S.

Its tools support more than 20 million annual encounters with patients, and they’re increasingly being used in rural hospitals and children’s medical facilities, which often struggle with a shortage of doctors and desperately need ways to increase productivity.

HV Capital Partner Alexander Joel-Carbonell said he’s backing Nabla because it’s one of the pioneers of clinical AI and has demonstrated a “remarkable” execution speed.

“What Alex, Delphine and Martin have built is nothing short of extraordinary,” he said. “I’ve rarely seen a technology scale this quickly, earn this level of trust and deliver such exceptional accuracy.”

Photo: Nabla