Amidst the global landscape of healthcare IT systems, an overwhelming burden is placed on legacy platforms. But fear not, for a new wave of startups is infiltrating the realm. One such startup is UK-based Anima, a “care enablement” platform that combines the functionalities of Slack, Salesforce, and Figma to cater to healthcare clinics and hospitals.
The company has recently secured a staggering $12 million in Series A funding, with Molten Ventures taking the lead and support from existing investors Hummingbird Ventures, Amino Collective, and Y Combinator. Notable new angel investors include Sidar Sahin, the founder of Peak Games.
Anima, a proud alumni of Y Combinator’s Winter 2021 batch, was launched in September 2022 and has already been adopted by 150 NHS clinics in England. The startup offers a software that streamlines the processing and filing of healthcare documents, giving it a much-needed upgrade from the outdated systems still in use.
“Anima has the capability to independently gather and organize specific medical history for any given complaint, and present it to the clinic with potential differential diagnoses and recommended next steps, thus ensuring that no red flags are missed,” explains Shun Pang, co-founder and CEO of Anima, to TechCrunch.
“The entire clinic can collaborate in real time using a multiplayer dashboard, similar to Figma. They can also ping cases to one another and communicate through a Slack-like user experience,” he adds.
Pang also goes on to mention that Anima’s processing system can effortlessly handle and summarize various types of documents, be it handwritten notes, diagrams, or images, and organize them into structured fields.
In this competitive space, Anima faces rivals like UK-based accuRx, who have successfully raised £36.6 million to date, and Memora Health in the US, who have raised an impressive $80.5 million. NexHealth, another competitor, has raised a staggering $177.2 million in Series C funding.
Talking to TechCrunch, Pang highlights, “Our true competitors are any company that offers a viable path towards a ‘care enablement’ platform, which encompasses the entire clinical workflow from document ingestion to resolution. This is similar to the role that Rippling played in HR or Salesforce in distribution.”
Interestingly, Pang has a rather unique background for a founder in this space, as he was a practising doctor before embarking on this venture: “I bring a rare blend of technical knowledge and practical experience, having trained as a doctor at Cambridge and being a self-taught software engineer who has written a major chunk of the code for Anima. Essentially, I was building something that I needed myself, and that I knew would save lives.
With its impressive traction and the background of its founder, Anima has managed to make its presence felt in the notoriously fickle NHS market. Molten Ventures Principal Inga Deakin expressed, “Software and artificial intelligence (AI) have made significant inroads in the healthcare industry, which is estimated to be a multi-billion dollar sector. However, many solutions take time to integrate and reach their full potential. What sets Anima apart is its rapid growth and immediate impact.”
As we witness the evolution of healthcare IT, diverse startups like Anima are proving to be the driving force, pushing the boundaries and bringing in much-needed reforms.
