Healthcare AI Guy Weekly | 12/10

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Our Picks ✨

Highlights if you’ve only got 2 minutes…

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CBInsights Digital Health 50

CB Insights unveiled the winners of the 2024 Digital Health 50 — a list of the world’s 50 most promising private digital health companies, selected based on a combination of data signals and proprietary scoring. 36 of 50 companies on the list are building AI products. This list highlights healthcare's shifts toward AI-driven infrastructure, advanced diagnostics, and specialized care platforms. Four key themes emerged from this year’s cohort:

• AI is becoming foundational infrastructure: 36 of the 50 companies are building AI products, ranging from operational automation high-flyers like Laguna to specialized healthcare LLMs like Hippocratic AI and insurance claim copilots like Alaffia Health.

• Workflow efficiency is a key priority: 19 of the companies are streamlining administrative or clinical tasks, spanning document processing startups like Tennr to ambient AI heavyweights, Abridge. The surge of automation solutions here signals that healthcare organizations will prioritize efficiency amid staffing shortages to help shift provider time from paperwork to patient care.

• Diagnostic innovations dominate: 11 companies comprised this year’s largest category, developing next-gen diagnostics across imaging (Airs Medical), pathology (Proscia), and non-invasive diagnostics (Alimetry). These next-generation diagnostics look to make testing more accessible and non-invasive while prioritizing early detection.

• More specialized platforms: Virtual and hybrid care representation doubled in this year’s cohort, reflecting the shift from general telemedicine toward condition-specific virtual models in areas like mental health with Talkiatry and cancer care startups such as Resilience.

  (link)(tweet)

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Trump’s new AI guy

Donald Trump has announced David Sacks, a venture capitalist and former PayPal executive, as his choice for “White House AI & Crypto Czar.” Sacks, a close ally of Elon Musk and founder of Craft Ventures, will spearhead U.S. policy in artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency. Known for his legal expertise and startup-focused mindset, Sacks is expected to balance thoughtful regulation with fostering innovation. Trump emphasized making America the global leader in these technologies while safeguarding free speech and reducing “Big Tech bias.” Sacks, a prominent supporter of Republicans, endorsed Trump earlier this year, citing critical issues of national competitiveness. All in all, Sacks is likely to favor startups and 'thoughtful' regulation — a new key figure healthcare AI players will have to keep their eye on. (link)

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Elon Musk’s Neuralink to connect brain implant to robotic arm

Elon's brain-implant company (Neuralink) has a new device (N1) that can control a robotic arm with your mind. If it works, then people who can't use their arms (eg. severe ALS) could use their mind to control a robotic arm instead. The announcement comes about four months after Musk relayed his vision for patients with an Optimus robotic arm or leg to have the ability to control their limbs with the N1 implant. What an exciting time for builders and patients alike!

"Let's say somebody has lost their arms or legs, we could actually attach an Optimus arm or Optimus legs to a Neuralink implant so that the motor commands from your brain that would go to our biological arms now go to your robot arms or robot legs, and you'd basically have cybernetic superpowers." — Elon Musk. (link)

Tools & Partnerships 🔧

Latest on business, consumer, and clinical healthcare AI tools and partnerships…

TOOLS

• OpenAI releases its o1 reasoning model: OpenAI is bringing the o1 reasoning model series out of preview in ChatGPT and is launching a new pro tier, a $200 a month plan for unlimited access to o1, GPT-4o and Advanced Voice mode. (link)

• AI outperforms experts at predicting scientific results: A new study from the University College of London just revealed that AI systems can predict scientific outcomes significantly better than expert neuroscientists — also uncovering ‘hidden’ patterns in research that could help better guide future studies. (link)

• Hippocratic AI gets patent for its LLM product: Hippocratic AI obtained its first U.S. patent for its Polaris constellation architecture, which bolsters its primary LLM (the conversational interface) with 19 support models to safeguard areas such as medicine reconciliation and overdose prevention. (link)

• Veradigm launches ambient scribe tool: Veradigm introduced a new ambient scribe powered by AvodahMed’s GenAI that transcribes patient-provider interactions into structured medical notes. (link)

• Thoughtful AI rolls out new task-specific AI agents: The RCM vendor launched a series of new task-specific AI agents, including eligibility verification, prior auth, coding and notes review, claims processing, denials management, and payment posting. (link)

• Mount Sinai opens $100M AI center: Mount Sinai Health System opened its new AI research center in Manhattan. The 12-floor research facility has been in the works for three years and comes with a $100 million price tag. (link)

• GE HealthCare debuts AI-powered mammography system: GE HealthCare unveiled a new zero-click mammography system with AI features aimed at easing the pressures from a shortage of trained technologists. (link)

• CareMessage debuts AI assistant: CareMessage launched an AI Assistant tailor-made for helping safety-net organizations parse patient responses into structured data and surface insights into their underlying needs, such as food insecurity or transportation barriers. (link)

PARTNERSHIPS

• Emory + Guidehealth: Emory Healthcare partners with Guidehealth to enhance primary care with AI-driven risk screening, disease prevention, and Healthguides, supporting over 500 physicians in value-based care. (link)

• Catalight + Nabla: Catalight adopts Nabla's AI assistant to reduce documentation time, enhance patient focus, and develop tailored I/DD note templates after a successful 6-week pilot. (link)

• Corewell Health + Abridge: Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Corewell Health signed a partnership with Abridge to be the AI clinical documentation tool for The 21-hospital health system. (link)

• Cambridge Health Alliance + Abridge: The Massachusetts academic health system selected the AI ambient scribe based on its support of a variety of languages. (link)

• Mayo Clinic + Philips: Mayo Clinic has inked a deal with Philips to collaboratively research how AI can be applied to cardiac MRIs. (link)

Deal Desk 💸 

Spotlight on latest capital raises, M&A, and investments…

FUNDING

• Cleerly, a New York-based provider of early detection for heart problems, raised $106M in Series C extension funding. Insight Partners led and was joined by Battery Ventures and insiders. (link)

• Cradle, an Amsterdam-based AI-powered protein engineering platform, raised $73M in Series B funding. IVP led the round and was joined by existing investors Index Ventures and Kindred Capital. (link)

• Sirona Medical, a cloud-native radiology workflow software, raised $42M in Series C financing. Avidity Partners led with participation from other existing investors, including 8VC, and GreatPoint Ventures. (link)

• Raidium, a foundation model company for analyzing CT scans and MRIs, raised $16.8M in seed funding. Kurma Partners and Newfund were the lead investors. (link)

• Practice Better, a practice management platform for health and wellness practitioners, announced it raised $13M in growth capital funded by CIBC Innovation Banking (link)

• Biolevate, a Paris-based AI assistant platform for the medical writing industry, raised $6.3M in seed funding. EQT Ventures led the round and was joined by bpifrance and angel investors.

• Cofactor, an AI-powered platform to easily, quickly, and successfully appeal denials raised $4M seed funding round led by Drive Capital. (link)

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

• Carta Healthcare + Realyze Intelligence: Carta Healthcare acquired a Pittsburgh-based AI-powered patient and clinical trial matching solution, from UPMC Enterprises. Financial terms were not disclosed. (link)

Other Relevant News 🔍

News, podcasts, blogs, tweets, resources, etc… 

• The checklist for strong AI governance (link)

• Top healthtech hazards of 2025 (link)

• Forbes honors '30 Under 30' in healthcare for 2025 (link)

• Amazon releases foundation model, Nova (link)

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Visuals of the Week 📸

Funny memes, cool pics, and interesting data from around the web…