- Ada Health has raised $47 million in a funding round led by billionaire Len Blavatnik’s investment fund. The personal doctor app was downloaded over a million times within six months of going live.
Ada Health, a fast-growing healthcare startup with 100 staff across Berlin, Munich, and London, has raised $47 million (€40 million; £36 million) from investors.
Ada Health has an iOS and Android app called Ada that combines artificial intelligence (AI) with expertise from actual doctors to help people understand and manage their health.
Daniel Nathrath, cofounder and CEO of Ada Health, told Business Insider that the money will be used to help Ada Health open a new US office and expand into new markets.
“We’ll also be continuing to grow our team of engineers, scientists and medical advisors as we look to drive further developments to our technology and product offerings, including the expansion of our telemedicine and next steps care services,” he said.
The Ada Health app, which competes with the likes of Babylon Health, was downloaded over 1 million times in its first six months of being live, according to Nathrath, who added that it has also been ranked number one in the medical category in Apple's App Store in 130 countries.
"The app works with a conversational interface so you can have a conversation with it just like you would have with a trusted doctor," Nathrath told Business Insider at the Tech Open Air conference in Berlin earlier this year.
The investment round - which is substantial for such an early stage company - was led by Access Industries, the global investment firm of billionaire Len Blavatnik.
Other firms that invested in the round included June Fund - which has backers including Google's chief business officer Philipp Schindler -and Berlin-based Cumberland VC. William Tunstall Pedoe, an entrepreneur who sold his AI-powered virtual assistant to Amazon, also participated in the round.
"Ada is one of the most exciting companies we've seen cutting across health and artificial intelligence," said Guillaume d'Hauteville, vice chairman of Access Industries, in a statement.
"They've developed a unique and highly effective health management solution driven by a team with deep medical and AI expertise and years of technology development. Ada is setting a new standard for health management, and we look forward to partnering with them on this next stage of their journey."
Ada has previously raised in the double digit millions from private individuals and was also awarded a €2.5 million (£2.2 million) grant to advance new scientific advances as part of the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programm.