YAKUB ABDULRASHEED – South African-founded clinical artificial intelligence (AI) startup, Healthleap, has raised $38 million in combined seed and Series A funding to expand its technology beyond malnutrition screening and help hospitals identify more overlooked medical conditions.
Founded in 2022 by siblings Josiah and Jemima Meyer, the company has developed a platform that analyses patients’ electronic health records to flag potential health risks and alert medical teams.
The new funding, secured from Sequoia Capital, First Round Capital and Hummingbird Ventures, will support the expansion of its services to conditions including congestive heart failure, pressure ulcers and hospital-acquired infections.
In addition to its services expansion, the new funding will be used to strengthen Healthleap’s engineering, product development and customer support teams.
What to Know About Healthleap
Healthleap is a clinical AI company founded in South Africa in 2022 by siblings Josiah and Jemima Meyer. Its technology is designed to help hospitals identify patients whose medical conditions may have gone unnoticed or remain inadequately addressed during routine care.
The company’s platform examines patients’ electronic health records (EHRs), which are digital medical files containing information such as laboratory results, vital signs, doctors’ notes, treatment orders and medical histories.
By analysing these records, the AI identifies potential clinical risks and generates alerts for healthcare professionals.
Rather than requiring doctors and nurses to adopt an entirely new system, Healthleap integrates its risk assessments into hospitals’ existing EHR workflows.
This allows care teams to see which patients may need further assessment or intervention and prioritise attention accordingly.
Healthleap initially concentrated on identifying malnutrition among hospital patients, but it is now seeking to broaden its reach by screening for additional conditions that can complicate recovery, increase healthcare costs or remain undetected during hospital stays.
Funding to Expand Clinical AI Capabilities
The $38 million investment combines seed and Series A funding, providing Healthleap with capital to expand its technology and strengthen its operations.
The funding round attracted Sequoia Capital, First Round Capital and Hummingbird Ventures, three investment firms backing the company’s ambition to improve healthcare through AI-driven clinical risk detection.
Healthleap plans to use the proceeds to develop its platform to identify a wider range of conditions, while recruiting additional engineers, sales professionals, customer success specialists and product development personnel.
The expansion is expected to support the company’s efforts to reach more hospitals and make its technology available across a broader range of clinical settings.
The funding comes as Healthleap seeks to address the challenge of patients leaving hospitals with medical conditions that have not been adequately identified or treated.
Its chief executive, Josiah Meyer, said, “Every week, millions of patients leave hospitals with unresolved health conditions that will erode their health and cost up to 10x more to treat in the long term.”
He added that the company’s goal is “to help improve care and save lives by identifying those conditions now.”
Expanding Services Beyond Malnutrition Screening
Healthleap’s initial focus on malnutrition reflects the risks associated with poor nutrition among hospital patients. Malnutrition can weaken patients, delay recovery and contribute to complications, particularly when it is not recognised early enough for appropriate intervention.
The company is now planning to extend its screening capabilities to congestive heart failure, pressure ulcers and several hospital-acquired infections.
Congestive heart failure occurs when the heart cannot pump blood as effectively as the body requires, while pressure ulcers, commonly known as bedsores, are injuries that develop when prolonged pressure damages the skin and underlying tissue.
Hospital-acquired infections are infections that patients develop while receiving medical care, rather than conditions they already had when admitted.
By expanding its platform to cover these conditions, Healthleap hopes to help healthcare professionals identify patients who may require closer monitoring, additional assessment or timely treatment.
The expansion will rely on the company’s existing approach of analysing information already contained in patients’ medical records and presenting potential risks within clinicians’ established workflows.
Hospitals Report Improved Detection and Additional Revenue
Healthleap’s investors say its technology has demonstrated potential benefits for both patient care and hospital finances. Alfred Lin, a partner at Sequoia Capital, said the company was focused on identifying patients who were being missed and ensuring they received the care they needed.
“The impact for both patients and hospitals has been inspiring, with one hospital seeing 39 per cent more malnutrition cases identified and treated, and US$11 million in incremental revenue in a single health system,” Lin said.
The reported increase in malnutrition cases identified and treated suggests that the platform helped the hospital recognise and address more patients with nutritional problems than it had previously been identifying.
The additional revenue, meanwhile, points to the potential financial benefits of detecting conditions and providing eligible medical services that might otherwise have gone unrecognised or undocumented.
However, the figures represent reported results from a particular health system and should not be interpreted as a guaranteed outcome for every hospital using the platform.
Josh Kopelman, co-founder and partner at First Round Capital, said the firm was attracted by Healthleap’s vision of enabling hospitals to use real-time AI to identify overlooked clinical risks, improve care and unlock reimbursement revenue.
The company’s expansion will therefore test whether its technology can deliver similar benefits across more conditions and healthcare institutions, while ensuring that AI-generated alerts translate into appropriate clinical action.
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