EliseAI initially started as an artificial intelligence company automating communications in the rental and leasing industry. Three years ago, the company made a move to break into healthcare, seeing opportunities to use AI to tackle administrative tasks.
The startup is targeting one of the healthcare system’s most expensive pain points: front-desk and call center operations, Minna Song, co-founder and CEO of EliseAI, said.
Healthcare administrative costs total over $600 billion annually in the U.S due to excessive manual tasks and limited investment in technology. "We’re providing patients with faster responses, consistent support across every interaction and greater accessibility," Song told Fierce Healthcare via email.
With strong traction in real estate and a growing footprint in healthcare, EliseAI aims to be a leader in vertical AI. The New York-based company picked up $250 million in series E funding led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) to fuel it growth. New investor Bessemer Venture Partners and existing investors Sapphire Ventures and Navitas Capital also backed the round.
The latest funding values the company at over $2.2 billion, doubling its valuation from about a year ago, Reuters reported.
EliseAI raised $75 million in series D funding a year ago, and has grown from 150 to over 300 full-time employees. It also has introduced new AI-powered products across both verticals.
The company said it surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) earlier this year.
EliseAI is focused on working with medical practices, particularly outpatient specialties, including dermatology, women’s health, ophthalmology and orthopedic, where practices face labor constraints, rising operational costs and manual workflows.
The company's platform books, reschedules and cancels appointments directly in providers' electronic health record systems, manages virtual waitlists, verifies insurance and even handles prior authorizations and billing inquiries, Song said.
EliseAI also manages communication across text, voice, email and webchat, delivering instant responses with voice support in seven languages and written responses in 51 languages. And it uses VoiceAI to answer 100% of inbound calls instantly, 24/7, eliminating hold times and abandoned calls.
The company is "deeply focused" on bringing transformative AI to those four specialties, Song said. "As we continue to deliver results in these specialties, we’re also creating a strong foundation for broader impact across healthcare," she said.
Song said the company will use the fresh funding to boost its hiring as it aims to triple the size of its team, especially in engineering, AI research and product roles to "fuel product innovation and help drive better outcomes for our customers."
"We are growing our office hubs in New York, San Francisco, Boston and Chicago, and are looking for people who are excited to help reshape industries that impact millions of lives every day," she said.
There is a growing list of healthcare AI companies developing AI solutions and agents targeted to front-office functions in healthcare, seeing big opportunities to tackle communication issues and administrative burden.
"What sets EliseAI apart is the depth of our specialization," Song said. "By concentrating on areas like women’s health, dermatology, ophthalmology and orthopedic care, our AI doesn’t just handle surface-level scheduling or reminders, it learns the complex workflows and nuanced conversations that are unique to each specialty."
EliseAI's experience building a vertical AI product in the housing industry, another heavily regulated market, has been invaluable and allowed the company to apply many of those learnings to the healthcare industry, she noted.
"We ensure patients experience faster, more consistent and more accessible care, while providers gain real efficiency and cost savings. It’s this combination of specialty-specific expertise and deep EHR integration that allows EliseAI to move beyond generic automation and actually become a trusted extension of the front office," she said.
Providers using EliseAI's technology report significant efficiency gains. Providers save two to three hours of administrative time per staff member per day, reducing overhead costs by as much as 25%, the company said.
"Our VoiceAI cuts call center costs by 3–5x, eliminating overage fees and charge-per-call billing, and for typical contact centers where a call might cost $4 to $10, this reduction translates to major savings," Song said.
“EliseAI has transformed our OB GYN call center operations by streamlining complex workflows, reducing patient wait times, improving operational efficiency, and elevating the customer experience,” Pierre Hage, M.D., of Women’s Health CT – Obstetrics & Gynecology, said in a statement. “With EliseAI, we’re on the path to achieving 24/7/365 comprehensive practice management for our patients and staff."