After impressive $150M raise, Abridge doubles down on Pittsburgh roots

After walking away with one of last quarter’s biggest Pittsburgh venture capital deals, Abridge is poised to make the list again.

The Lawrenceville-based health tech company, which produces an app that records and condenses conversations between patients and doctors, has secured a $150 million investment. 

Raising this amount only months after the previous $30 million Series B raise reflects a desire to have the kind of technology Abridge is developing on the market, COO Julia Chou Chapin told Technical.ly

“This is one of the largest investments in healthcare AI,” Chapin said, “and really reflects the momentum that we’ve had in the market, as well as a hunger for this type of technology, and healthcare.” 

The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, who will join the company’s board. Other participants included IVP, Spark Capital, Union Square Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Wittington Ventures, Mass General Brigham Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Fund, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, and CVS Health Ventures. 

Investors see the technology Abridge provides as a chance to reduce the burden of documentation on healthcare providers and improve healthcare.

“Abridge will allow caregivers to capture an enormous amount of data that is currently being discarded or ignored, and that in turn will likely lead to new insights in managing population health. I’m thrilled to work with Dr. Rao and his team on the next great step in the evolution of healthcare,” Lightspeed venture partner Paul Ricci said.

Chapin expects the company to use the funding to accelerate its research and development efforts, continue building on its machine learning models, and bring on more talent. Currently, Abridge has [waiting for confirmation] employees, many of whom are machine learning researchers and scientists, engineers, and recruiters. 

Moving forward, Chapin confirmed, the company will be looking to fill positions across the board. 

“Everything from the business side of the house to the technical side,” he said, adding that most jobs will be local. “In general, this is actually where the biggest concentration or machine learning team is, and we expect to continue to build Pittsburgh as a regional center of excellence for AI and healthcare.” 

Throughout 2023, Abridge met milestones such as hiring its first-ever chief scientific officer, former Amazon staffer Zachary Lipton, as well as its first chief clinical officer, Tina Shah. The company also secured notable partnerships with institutions such as Emory, the University of Kansas UPMC, and most recently Yale University, Chapin said. 

Looking back, 2023 was an important year for artificial intelligence and healthcare, he added. What made Abridge stand out, he believes, was the company’s clinical expertise, as well as its access to the resources Pittsburgh offers life science companies. 

Although Abridge is growing, for the foreseeable future its path remains in Pittsburgh.

“Pittsburgh for us is a very special place. It is a city of bridges!” Chapin said. “We’ve derived inspiration from Pittsburgh in a multitude of ways… The combination of healthcare and AI influences in Pittsburgh are what made this company really special.”

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This story has been updated to add Redpoint Ventures to the list of investors and to correct the spelling of Paul Ricci’s name.

Atiya Irvin-Mitchell is a 2022-2024 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Heinz Endowments.