Factors Affecting Venture Funding of Healthcare AI Companies.

Venture Capital (VC) funding raised by companies producing Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning (ML) solutions is on the rise and a driver of technology development. In healthcare, VC funding is distributed unevenly and certain technologies have attracted significantly more funding than others have. We analyzed a database of 106 Healthcare AI companies collected from open online sources to understand factors affecting the VC funding of AI companies operating in different areas of healthcare. The results suggest that there is a significant connection between higher funding and having research organizations or pharmaceutical companies as the customer of the product or service. In addition, focusing on AI solutions that are applied to direct patient care delivery is associated with lower funding. We discuss the implications of our findings for public health technology funding institutions.