Eindhoven-based Autoscriber, an AI-based voice recognition software that captures and summarises consultations between healthcare professionals and patients, announced on Wednesday that it has closed a Seed round at €1.2M.
The funding came from LUMO Labs’ Fund II Seed Capital and the Brabant Development Agency (BOM).
In September 2021, the Dutch startup raised an undisclosed amount of funding in its pre-Seed round from LUMO Labs’ investment vehicle LUMO Fund II TTT.AI, a part of the ICAI Venture Program. ICAI was founded by the University of Amsterdam and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
Pain point of the current healthcare system
Currently, the pressure on healthcare systems is rising due to a shortage of medical staff. The necessity to automate processes and documentation, along with ageing populations, places a tremendous burden on physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals worldwide.
In order to take this pressure off, there is huge potential in making healthcare more data-driven. However, the problem is that data-driven methods of patient care, such as diagnostic support, analytics, and precision medicine, require thorough data on the patient and complete patient files or Electronic Health Records (EHRs).
Co-founder of Autoscriber, Koen Bonenkamp, says, “In practice, we see that medical practitioners don’t have the time to fill out EHRs the way they are designed. Many valuable insights to improve healthcare get lost because data is captured in a suboptimal format or not captured at all.”
And this is where Autoscriber looks to make a difference.
“Reimagining healthcare”
Founded in 2021 by Jacqueline Kazmaier and Koen Bonenkamp, Autoscriber develops AI-powered speech recognition and natural language processing technologies to extract structured data from conversations between physicians and their patients.
Co-founder Kazmaier says, “Our goal is to bring the human-centric element of medical consultations back to the forefront and to make tedious administrative tasks a thing of the past.”
The company’s “Flow” product allows medical professionals to record these conversations using their mobile phone and get real-time ideas for how to complete the EHR. And this allows the solution to reduce waiting times, collect more data, and enhance the doctor-patient consultation process.
Capital utilisation
Andy Lürling, LUMO Labs Founding Partner, says, “The additional funding will be used to speed up the roll-out and further development of the software and so increase its impact.”
Co-founder Kazmaier says that the pre-Seed round was their ‘build & learn’ phase. The current investment will be ‘validate & optimise’ phase, and in the following round the company will focus on scale. “We have reached the point where we have proven that the problem is real and that what we are building can offer a solution. There is clearly a huge need in the market and a willingness to make radical change – we struggle to keep up with requests for collaborations,” adds Kazmaier.
Autoscriber claims it will expand its crew to meet this demand. Additionally, the company’s location on the High Tech Campus and its development office in Cape Town will assist them to recruit the necessary workforce.
About LUMO Labs and BOM
Founded in 2016 by Andy Lurling and Sven Bakkes, LUMO Labs creates opportunities for impact-driven software and smart hardware startups. It invests in sectors such as Artificial Intelligence/Data, Blockchain, Internet of Things, Robotics and Drones, and Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality.
Its current LUMO Fund II is a €20M impact-driven multi-stage capital fund (pre-seed up to and including Series A). It also includes a two-year venture builder programme to support its portfolio companies in gaining financial success as well as social traction and impact.
The company backs startups that align with at least one of the three UN Sustainable Development Goals: Sustainable Cities & Communities; Good Health & Well-Being; and, Quality Education.
The Brabant Development Agency (BOM) assists entrepreneurs in receiving the support and funding they require to develop ‘critical’ technologies, healthy futures, climate-neutral energy, and sustainable food sources. Additionally, it also helps in their development into scale-ups and businesses with worldwide aspirations. BOM serves as the executive branch for the Province of Brabant and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy.
