Abridge, whose AI app takes notes for doctors, valued at $5.3 billion at funding

The round, led by venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Khosla Ventures, values the startup at $5.3 billion. In February, Abridge raised $250 million at a valuation of $2.75 billion.

The new capital infusion will go to hiring scientists, machine-learning experts and software developers who will focus on developing new products and building advanced AI infrastructure to support large customers, said Co-founder and Chief Executive Dr. Shiv Rao.

The fundraise comes at a time where so-called ambient-listening tech, which tunes in to the exchanges between doctor and patient and then transcribes the conversations, is gaining traction at hospitals and health systems.

The technology is lauded for reducing physician burnout—an increasing problem for overworked doctors—and allows them to spend more time focused on patients without needing to scribble notes after hours.

Abridge’s technology is now used in over 150 large health systems nationwide, the startup said, expanding from just a handful a few years ago when the Pittsburgh- and San Francisco-based startup was still piloting its technology with a few hospitals, said Rao.

“Since then, we’ve seen healthcare take up generative AI-centered solutions faster than any other industry," he said. Abridge will support more than 50 million medical conversations this year, it said.

The rapid growth of generative AI-based services and products has meant that nearly every sector—from financial services and life sciences to the skilled trades—is starting to be transformed by the technology.

But wide-scale adoption doesn’t necessarily keep step with deployment.

For instance, about 800 of Yale New Haven Health System’s roughly 3,000 employed physicians are actively using Abridge’s platform, though that number is expected to double in the coming year, said Dr. Lee Schwamm, the health system’s senior vice president and chief digital health officer.

But of those doctors who do use Abridge, 60% to 70% continue to do so, Schwamm said, and they report a major reduction in burnout.

“It will become imperative for our physicians to use it, just like we require physicians to use the electronic health record," Schwamm said.

Matt Kull, chief information and digital strategy officer of Inova Health System, said the Northern Virginia-based health system is expanding the use of Abridge’s product from its 2,000 doctors to include its 6,000 nurses.

Soon, nurses will be able to walk through in-patient suites and check vitals while talking to an Abridge-connected device, Kull said.

Over the past few years, Abridge’s technology, which was launched in 2018, has become more sophisticated alongside the advanced AI models that power it, recognizing hard-to-pronounce medical terms and also generating notes relevant to each specialty, Rao said.

The company also has expanded the AI’s ability to access a patient’s prior records and notes so it can prepare its own records according to the doctor’s preferences.

As part of its fundraise, Abridge is also embedding the checking and validating of medical billing codes during patient conversations, making documentation more compliant and simplifying processes like coding, billing and auditing.

While Abridge’s technology has evolved, so, too, have its competitors. Microsoft in 2022 acquired Nuance, a leading player in the “AI scribe" arena. Other competitors include Ambience Healthcare, Suki AI, Onpoint Healthcare Partners and Nabla.

With AI-based listening tools, there are concerns over patient privacy and data security—and in using AI without human supervision. Kull, of Inova Health System, said one of the health system’s primary concerns is the responsible use of AI in its areas of practice.

“We look at this as assistive, not autonomous," he said. “We want artificial intelligence to provide prompting, to provide automated keystrokes, but we leave the true clinical decision-making to our physicians."

Write to Belle Lin at belle.lin@wsj.com