US-based health technology company Apella has raised $80m in Series B equity and venture debt for transforming hospitals with ambient AI and computer vision.
HighlandX led the funding round, with participation from returning investors PFM Health Sciences, Casdin Capital, Operator Partners, Upside Partnership, Vensana Capital, and new investors Houston Methodist, K2 HealthVentures, and OpAmp Capital.
Apella offers hospitals a platform for operating room management that uses computer vision and machine learning to detect up to 14 surgical case events and autonomously document data into electronic health records (EHR). This aims to allow healthcare professionals to focus on patient care.
Hospitals using Apella include Houston Methodist, Tampa General Hospital, and the Medical University of South Carolina.
According to Apella, facilities using its platform have reported a 5% rise in surgical volume.
Houston Methodist participated as an investor and has implemented Apella’s technology across more than 200 operating rooms within its nine-hospital system.
Apella recently launched Horizon, which provides hospitals with case duration data and utilisation predictions to improve scheduling and maximise resource use before the day starts. The company’s technology now extends beyond operating rooms into procedural areas such as endoscopy, cardiology, and interventional radiology.
Apella co-founder and CEO David Schummers said: “Ambient AI is transforming healthcare. We have applied this technology to the most critical part of the health system: the operating room.
“Our customers have expanded beyond the pilot phase, bringing Apella’s product suite to enterprise scale. In doing so, health systems are unlocking additional capacity to serve more patients, faster.”
In a related development, HighlandX managing partner Corey Mulloy has joined Apella’s board of directors.
Mulloy said: "The depth at which hospital staff are adopting Apella and incorporating it in their everyday workflows is exciting. Health technology — even when it delivers hard ROI — rarely becomes such an integral part of providers’ day-to-day or a problem-solver for health systems."
