Health systems technology firm Kontakt.io has raised $47.5 million to expand its artificial intelligence (AI) solution.
“Kontakt.io enables health systems to optimize patient, staff, and resource flows, improving safety, coordination, and service delivery,” the firm said in a Tuesday (April 16) news release.
“The company uses AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), and cloud technology to provide real-time location data and orchestrate staff, equipment, and clinical spaces around a patient’s care journey,” the release added.
The funding comes from Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s growth equity unit, with Christian Resch, partner at Goldman Sachs, joining Kontakt.io’s board.
“Clinical staff, the key asset of health systems, must be freed to focus on their single most important job: providing patient care,” said Philipp von Gilsa, CEO of Kontakt.io. “Our partnership with Goldman Sachs will help Kontakt.io further expand into AI to orchestrate care delivery resources and processes, putting staff and patients back at the center of care.”
The funding comes at a time when — as PYMNTS wrote recently — AI is finding its way into the consumer healthcare space from a number of angles, from disease diagnosis to pharmaceutical research.
“Until now though, the technology has been a bit light on improving the patient experience,” that report said. “However, even that is about to change.”
In addition to Kontakt, other companies in this field include Chartis, which uses AI to clarify medical language for patients, and Amelia, which is employing AI to help patients through scheduling, treatment and payments.
There’s also Artsright, which raised $42 million in a Series B round in January to fund its company, which focuses on removing friction from the patient-caregiver relationship with AI, developing what it calls a “smart hospital.”
“When I think of a smart hospital, I think about whether the infrastructure of the hospital itself is helping to advance the care of the patient,” Artisight President Stephanie Lahr told PYMNTS.
“That can be seen in making things happen faster, making things happen more effectively, or just in providing higher quality data points in order to be able to make decisions. That happens with sensors. A smart hospital really is an IoT sensor network platform within a hospital that is capturing and assimilating large amounts of data,” she added.