Vital, an Atlanta-based healthcare startup founded by Mint.com creator Aaron Patzer, has closed a seed funding round led by First Round Capital and Threshold Ventures (formerly DFJ Venture). Contributors to the $5.2 million raise also include Bragiel Brothers, Meridian Street Capital, Refactor Capital, and SV Angel, as well as individuals Vivek Garipalli, CEO of CloverHealth, and Nat Turner and Zach Weinberg, founders of Flatiron Health.
Josh Kopelman, founder and partner of First Round Capital, is joining Vital’s board of directors.
“These are entrepreneurs who have succeeded in this highly-regulated industry,” Patzer tells Hypepotamus via email. “Flatiron built an EHR for oncology whereas Vital is building one for the emergency room. CloverHealth founder Vivek Garipalli also started CarePoint hospitals in New Jersey, and provides great clinical insight.”
Patzer teamed up with Dr. Justin Schrager, an Emory University Hospital ER doctor and his own brother-in-law, to create Vital. He first conceived of the platform when he learned that average ER waits are hours long, but the vast majority of patients come in with relatively straightforward issues.
Patzer, who created Mint to simplify the complexities of personal financial planning with data and artificial intelligence, believed the same technologies could be applied to emergency room processes.
Vital aims to streamline all of that. The HIPAA-compliant AI-powered software triages patients before they see an ER doctor. It helps the physicians and nurses coordinate the tests and treatments they prescribe, as well as prioritize the most critical patients and treat the simple cases faster.
“Doctors and nurses often put more time into paperwork and data entry than patient care,” said Patzer in a statement. “Vital uses smart, easy tech to reverse that, cutting wait times in half, reducing provider burnout and saving hospitals millions of dollars.”
Patzer initially self-funded the startup, and this seed round will help the team grow in both Atlanta and their Auckland, New Zealand office, where Patzer is based most of the time.
They will aim to hit about 20 employees this year, with most of the growth concentrated in the engineering and data science teams.
Patzer hints that their first emergency room rollout will be announced in a matter of weeks. In addition to that, the team is focusing on adding new features, such as estimated patient wait times, and more languages to the platform.
