Exclusive: AvoMD raises $5M seed to combat doctor burnout

AvoMD, an AI-enabled technology company seeking to automate admin, raised $5 million in seed funding, co-founder Yair Saperstein tells Axios exclusively.

Why it matters: Physician burnout continues to loom over the health care industry, which is already rankled by a labor shortage and wage inflation.

Details: The round of funding was led by AlleyCorp.

• Other investors in the round included Las Olas, Epsilon Health and MedMountain Ventures.
• Additional investors include angel investor Dr. Kavita Patel, a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates, as well as Mirae, Dunamu, Columbia University, Mount Sinai Innovation Partners, StartUp Health, and 500 Global.

How it works: AvoMD digitizes clinical evidence and best practices to provide physicians with interactive clinical guidelines, medical calculators, billing support and documentation automation.

• Avo has developed standardized integrations with the largest electronic health record systems in the US.
• It also supports AI model integration, which enables doctors to incorporate clinical predictions based on AI at the point of care.
• "We want to help automate tasks and humanize the patient experience," Saperstein says.

What's next: Fresh funds will be used to expand sales and marketing, build out EHR integration, R&D efforts, and upgrades to the AI platform.

• "This funding will have us set well into next year," Saperstein says, noting AvoMD could raise capital again in late 2024.
• AvoMD, which is "closing in on $1 million annual recurring revenue," sees a path to profitability "in the next couple years," he adds.

State of play: Investors have been shelling out cash for companies that can automate repetitive and administrative tasks — freeing front-line workers to spend more time providing care.

• Laudio this month snagged $13M Series B for automation for tasks such as employee rounding, checking with new hires, checking in on patients, assessing overtime and quality audits.
• Primary care company Carbon Health is using AI to write notes during patient appointments, one of the most time-intensive tasks for physicians, as tech continues to chip away at pain points for health care providers.
• Clinical automation company Memora Health collected $30 million in undesignated funds in April to automate patient communication.

One (not exactly fun) thing: Two of the three cofounders — Saperstein and Joongheum Park — are also physicians in New York City and had firsthand experience with burnout.

• "Clinicians can build the best clinical tools because we know what we need best," Saperstein says.