SAN FRANCISCO — Ferrum Health, a developer of software for deploying AI into health systems, has raised $16 million in a Series A funding round led by Foundry, with participation from Catalyst by Wellstar, Headwaters Ventures, and UnitedHealthcare Accelerator. Prior investors that also rejoined the current round include Blumberg Capital, Cercano, GSR, Urban Innovation Fund, and Singtel Innov8. This latest round brings Ferrum Health’s total funding to $31 million.
“The healthcare industry is eager to harness the potential of AI, but adoption remains limited due to security, safety, and scalability challenges,” said Pelu Tran, CEO of Ferrum Health. “Ferrum solves this problem by providing a secure platform that allows health systems to deploy AI without compromising data privacy or innovation. Our new funding will allow us to double down on product development and partner expansion, so healthcare professionals can leverage the power of AI to make more informed decisions and improve patient outcomes.”
Ferrum is a vendor-neutral, privately deployed platform that allows clinicians to validate the performance of AI on local datasets and deploy AI into their existing workflows, all without protected health information (PHI) leaving the health system firewall. Ferrum Health’s growing library of AI algorithms now covers oncology, women’s and men’s health, cardiovascular, neurology, orthopedics, and more.
The impact of Ferrum’s AI platform is already clear: an early partner saw a 77% higher rate of early lung cancer detection and an improvement in five-year cancer survival rates. Ferrum’s solution also drives operational efficiency, helping health systems achieve a 75% reduction in internal IT staffing and compute costs and a 98% reduction in AI implementation timelines, from an average of six weeks to less than a day.
“While there’s been over $100 billion invested in clinical AI startups, adoption remains at a dismal 5% across the healthcare industry,” said Jaclyn Freeman Hester, Partner, Foundry Group. “Ferrum Health’s approach is unlocking AI adoption at scale. Their secure, scalable infrastructure and thoughtful approach represent the kind of transformative technology we need to modernize healthcare.”
Sutter Health, Carle Clinic, Premier, Asheville Radiology Associates, Radiology Associates of Albuquerque, and Mercy Radiology are a few of the over 250 sites that trust Ferrum Health, which has resulted in an 86% increase in revenue over the past six months. These health systems leverage Ferrum Health’s advanced algorithms to analyze vast amounts of medical data, providing doctors with critical insights and recommendations that enhance care.
“Ferrum Health’s AI platform has been a valuable tool for our doctors. It helps us quickly and accurately ensure the quality of important diagnoses, providing insights that can help us improve patient care,” Dr. Jason Wiesner, Chair of Radiology at Sutter Health. “We are excited to continue with Ferrum Health as their platform expands.”