Top 3 Healthtech Trends in 2024

Y Combinator Demo Day is always a great opportunity to find promising startups and get a sense of where technology is headed. It’s a chance to tap directly into the source of inbound innovation.

This latest batch of healthcare startups has one overwhelming trend: AI.

Every single company is leveraging AI in some capacity, which is sure to transform healthcare at an unprecedented rate. You won’t see any AI doctors yet, but you can get a sense of how companies are tackling all the margins of healthcare right now.

Here are the 3 AI trends coming out of this batch of Y Combinator companies.

1. AI is being used to drive Healthcare efficiency.

Many startups are tackling the administrative burdens that healthcare providers face daily. These companies are focused on streamlining operations, reducing manual tasks, and improving overall efficiency.

• Codes Health: An AI intake coordinator for specialty care that automates the process of gathering medical history, allowing clinics to save time and accelerate patient care.

• Hey Revia: This voice AI solution automates complex phone calls for healthcare providers, handling insurance menus and reducing time spent on hold.

• Taxo: Automates medical billing and coding, cutting down the time required for claim processing and significantly reducing denial rates.

• Substrate: AI that helps medical billing teams increase throughput and reduce errors, making the billing process faster and more accurate.

• Pharos: Automates hospital reporting to reduce clinical hours spent on manual tasks, improving patient safety and cutting down administrative workload.

• Syntra: An AI-powered operating system for private practices, replacing outdated EHR systems and streamlining clinic operations.

• Tivara: Uses AI to automate health insurance approval workflows, speeding up the authorization process by up to five times.

• Ply Health: Simplifies the process of getting providers in-network with insurance companies, allowing them to focus more on patient care.

• Lumenary: AI-powered quality reporting that helps value-based healthcare organizations reduce administrative costs and streamline operations.

• Planbase: A workforce management system that handles everything from scheduling to payroll, making healthcare teams more efficient.

• mdhub: AI assistants that help mental health clinics run their operations smoothly, allowing therapists to spend more time with patients.

• Driftly: A modern, AI-powered EHR system designed specifically for home health agencies, reducing costs and improving efficiency.

• Brighterway: AI that helps physicians save time reviewing medical records in med-legal exams, cutting down the time spent on document review.

• Clara: An AI platform that helps families manage in-home caregivers, handling payroll, taxes, and insurance.

• Guardian AI: AI that helps healthcare providers fight insurance claim denials, reducing revenue loss and improving financial efficiency.

2. AI and Biosciences Converge into borderline Sci-fi companies.

These startups use AI to push the boundaries of bioscience, from drug discovery to sustainable production. They are working on solutions that merge technology with biology, targeting some of the most pressing challenges in healthcare and beyond. New cancer treatments, antibiotics, and enzymes!

• Kopra Bio: Genetically engineered viruses that target and kill cancer cells, offering a potentially game-changing treatment for cancer patients.

• Evolvere Biosciences: Using AI to develop next-generation antibiotics that can outpace bacterial resistance, addressing a critical global health challenge.

• Ligo Biosciences: AI-designed enzymes that simplify complex industrial processes, with significant potential in chemical manufacturing.

• Amino Analytica: AI-designed enzymes for health and nutrition, streamlining the enzyme validation process in both pharmaceuticals and the food industry.

• Anthrogen: Uses genetically engineered bacteria and AI to capture CO2 and create valuable materials like fuels and plastics, offering a sustainable production method.

• Ångström AI: AI-powered molecular simulations that are as accurate as wet lab experiments, reducing costs and speeding up R&D in biotech and pharmaceuticals.

• ReactWise: AI co-pilot that optimizes chemical processes in pharma and biotech, improving process speed and efficiency.

• Biocartesian: Converts biological tissue into digital molecular maps, improving visibility of molecules that are often missed during research, potentially aiding in new drug discoveries.

• ACX: Uses AI to create new therapeutics inspired by natural bacterial processes, targeting both agricultural and pharmaceutical markets.

3. AI is tackling Healthcare Operations and Clinical Innovation.

These startups are transforming both the operational side of healthcare and advancing clinical decision-making. By improving data management, clinical trials, and decision support, they aim to make healthcare delivery more scalable, efficient, and patient-focused.

• Baseline AI: Automates document creation and data management for clinical trials, making the process faster and more efficient.

• Planbase: Handles workforce management for healthcare teams, cutting down administrative workload by automating everything from credentialing to payroll.

• Vera Health: AI-powered clinical decision support that helps doctors make better-informed decisions, improving patient outcomes.

• Mito Health: AI-driven insights for early cancer detection and reducing heart disease risks.

For completeness, here are two companies that aren’t directly healthcare-related but were included on the list:

• Focus Buddy: AI-powered productivity coach that helps people stay focused during work sessions, improving work habits and efficiency.

• 1849 Bio: Engineers microbes to unlock valuable trapped metals like copper, bringing new possibilities to the mining industry.

If you’re interested in trying any of these products or investing in these startups, I can introduce you to their founders.

However, if you haven’t angel invested in strangers’ companies before (very different from investing in a friend or family member), I wouldn’t start just yet. It’s better to get more experience identifying good opportunities so you don’t throw money away.

Best,
Mohammed