BEST OF DISRUPTION 2016

Google-owned DeepMind Technologies
(Babylon will reportedly roll out a Sirilike
voice recognition interface this
year), and a $154M Series A round
raised by China-based iCarbonX.
“By 2025, AI systems could be
involved in everything from
population health management, to
digital avatars capable of
answering specific patient queries.”
— Harpreet Singh Buttar, analyst at
Frost & Sullivan.”
We identified over 90 companies that
are applying machine learning
algorithms and predictive analytics to
reduce drug discovery times, provide
virtual assistance to patients, and
diagnose ailments by processing
medical images, among other things.
We first published the market map
below in April 2016. It has been updated
since then to include companies that
have raised an equity funding round
since January 2013, and exclude exited
companies like MetaMind, which was
recently acquired by Salesforce.
A few investment highlights:
Increasingly crowded imaging &
diagnostics: 17 out of the 22
companies under imagining &
diagnostics raised their first
equity funding round since
January 2015 (this includes
1 st Seed or Series A rounds, as
well as a first round raised by
stealth startup Imagen
Technologies). In 2014, Butterfly
Networks raised a $100M Series
C, backed by Aeris Capital and
Stanford University. This was the
third-largest equity round to AI in
healthcare companies, after
China-based iCarbonX’s $154M
mega-round and two $100M+
raises by oncologyfocused
Flatiron Health.
VCs invest in drug
discovery: Startups are using
machine learning algorithms to
reduce drug discovery times, and
VCs have backed 6 out of the 9
startups on the map. Andreessen
Horowitz recently seedfunded
twoXAR, developer of the
DUMA drug discovery platform;
Khosla Ventures and Data
Collective backed Atomwise,
which published its first findings
of Ebola treatment drugs last
year, and has also partnered with
MERCK; Lightspeed Venture
Partners invested in Numedii in
2013; Foundation Capital
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