AI-Powered HealthTech Startups CEO’s to Watch in U.S. 2024

The healthcare industry is undergoing a profound transformation driven by artificial intelligence (AI). AI-powered healthtech startups are at the forefront of this revolution, leveraging advanced technologies to enhance patient care, streamline administrative processes, and innovate medical treatments. 

The global AI in healthcare market is projected to grow from $20.9 billion in 2024 to $148.4 billion by 2029, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 48.1%. This explosive growth is fueled by the increasing complexity of healthcare data, the pressing need to reduce costs, and rapid advancements in computing power. 

As we look ahead, a new crop of visionary CEOs are leading AI-powered healthtech startups that are poised to reshape the future of medicine and healthcare delivery in the United States.

Lana Feng: Huma.AI

Lana Feng, Ph.D., is the CEO and co-founder of Huma.AI, a leading generative AI platform for life sciences. With over 20 years of experience in biotech and pharmaceuticals, she has significantly contributed to the field of precision medicine. Before founding Huma.AI, Feng played a pivotal role at Novartis’ Oncology Business Unit and was instrumental in building the BioPharma division at Genoptix, where she increased sales from zero to $45 million in five years, leading to its acquisition by Novartis. Under her leadership, Huma.AI leverages generative AI to accelerate drug development and improve healthcare outcomes by providing advanced insights and data-driven solutions for the life sciences industry.

Martin Bouza: Arionkoder

Martin Bouza is the CEO and co-founder of Arionkoder, a product development company focused on creating digital solutions to help businesses scale their impact. With over 20 years of experience in technology and business leadership, Bouza describes himself as a “creator in the digital age” who enjoys tackling significant challenges. Under his guidance, Arionkoder has grown to have three offices worldwide, with over 200 employees across eight countries. The company specializes in building human-centered, product-oriented AI solutions that are technically feasible, economically viable, and valuable for users. Bouza is also a member of the Forbes Technology Council, where he shares insights on product design and development. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, he is fluent in English and Spanish, with some proficiency in Portuguese and French.

Yudara Kularathne: HeHealth

Dr. Yudara Kularathne is the co-founder and CEO of HeHealth, a San Francisco and Singapore-based male health startup launched in January 2022. As an emergency physician, Dr. Kularathne developed HeHealth to address stigma and challenges in men’s sexual health. The company utilizes AI and computer vision technology for early detection of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) through a mobile application. HeHealth’s innovative approach allows users to submit photos for AI-powered screening of visually recognizable STDs, aiming to provide anonymous, accessible sexual health screening. Alongside his role at HeHealth, Dr. Kularathne continues to work as a Visiting Consultant Emergency Physician at SingHealth and serves as a Clinical Instructor and Mentor at the National University of Singapore.

Khan Siddiqui: HOPPR

Dr. Khan Siddiqui is the co-founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of HOPPR, an innovative AI company transforming medical imaging. A world-renowned clinical radiologist and pioneer in the field of AI, Dr. Siddiqui brings over 30 years of experience in revolutionizing healthcare technology. He has an extensive background in deep learning, AI, and image processing, holding dozens of patents in these areas. Prior to HOPPR, Dr. Siddiqui served as the Chief Medical Officer of Hyperfine, Inc., where he led the FDA clearance of the world’s first portable MRI scanner. He also founded Higi, Inc., a consumer health technology company that was later acquired in a $4.2 billion SPAC transaction. At HOPPR, Dr. Siddiqui is leading the development of a GPT-4-like platform for medical imaging, enabling physicians to interact dynamically with medical imaging studies and potentially revolutionizing diagnostic processes. 

Joon S. Park: MEDICAL IP

Dr. Joon S. Park is the founder and CEO of MEDICAL IP, a pioneering company in the field of medical imaging and 3D printing technology. Established in 2015, MEDICAL IP focuses on developing AI-based medical imaging analysis and 3D technologies, including 3D printing, CAD/CAM, and AR/VR, to enhance medical care by reducing workload and improving patient outcomes. Dr. Park, who also serves as a Professor of Radiology at Seoul National University Hospital, has a strong background in computer science and medical imaging. Under his leadership, MEDICAL IP has achieved significant milestones, including FDA clearance for its products and recognition as a leading vendor by Gartner. The company’s innovations aim to create a better medical experience through precise and patient-specific solutions.

Shiv Rao: Abridge

Dr. Shiv Rao is the co-founder and CEO of Abridge, a company leveraging AI to transform healthcare conversations into actionable insights. A practicing cardiologist and former Executive Vice President at UPMC Enterprises, Dr. Rao founded Abridge in 2018 to address gaps in healthcare communication and documentation. The company uses advanced speech and language technologies to summarize and structure medical conversations in real-time, benefiting providers, payers, and patients. Under Dr. Rao’s leadership, Abridge has secured significant funding, including a recent $150 million Series C round, to accelerate R&D and expand its AI capabilities in clinical documentation. Dr. Rao’s vision for Abridge stems from his personal experiences with rare diseases and his commitment to improving healthcare efficiency and patient empowerment.

Ganesh Padmanabhan: Autonomize AI

Ganesh Padmanabhan is the co-founder and CEO of Autonomize AI, a company focused on leveraging AI to unlock value from clinical and biomedical data to improve human health outcomes. With over 20 years of experience in technology and AI, Padmanabhan founded Autonomize AI in January 2022 after successful ventures in explainable AI and data aggregation. The company aims to develop trusted AI solutions for healthcare, emphasizing patient-centric innovation, data privacy, and ethical AI practices. Under Padmanabhan’s leadership, Autonomize AI is working on creating AI-driven platforms that can integrate with existing healthcare workflows, offering solutions like clinical and biomedical optimized LLMs and AI orchestration across various models. Padmanabhan’s vision is to make AI a catalyst for extending human cognition in healthcare, enabling organizations and individuals to reach their maximum potential. 

Akilesh Bapu : DeepScribe

Akilesh Bapu is the co-founder and CEO of DeepScribe, an AI-powered medical scribe company that he founded in 2017. DeepScribe leverages artificial intelligence and natural language processing to transform medical documentation by passively recording patient visits, generating clinical notes, and seamlessly integrating them into electronic health records (EHRs). Bapu, a graduate of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) program at UC Berkeley, has a background in deep learning and natural language processing. His vision for DeepScribe emerged from his research at the Berkeley AI Research Lab and his experience at Apple, aiming to alleviate the administrative burden on healthcare providers and combat physician burnout.

Amit Garg: HiLabs

Amit Garg is the co-founder and CEO of HiLabs, a tech company focused on solving the “dirty data” problem in healthcare using artificial intelligence. With a background in engineering and an MBA from Yale School of Management, Garg leverages his extensive experience in product development, operations, and consulting to lead HiLabs in its mission to refine healthcare data. 

Founded in 2014 with co-founder Neel Butala, HiLabs has developed MCheck™, an AI-powered platform that detects and corrects data errors in healthcare systems. Under Garg’s leadership, HiLabs has partnered with major health plans, covering over 65 million lives, and has analyzed over 35 billion records. The company’s innovative approach to improving healthcare data quality has attracted significant investment, including a recent $39 million funding round, positioning HiLabs as a key player in transforming healthcare operations and patient experiences. 

Eric Lefkofsky: Tempus AI

Eric Lefkofsky is the founder and CEO of Tempus, a technology company that leverages artificial intelligence and data science to revolutionize precision medicine. Founded in 2015, Tempus aims to improve patient outcomes by providing physicians with real-time, data-driven insights for more accurate diagnoses and personalized treatment plans. Lefkofsky, also a co-founder of Groupon, Mediaocean, Echo Global Logistics, and InnerWorkings, has a long history of building successful technology-driven companies. He is a philanthropist, serving on the boards of several Chicago-based institutions, and an adjunct professor at the University of Chicago. His work at Tempus was inspired by his wife’s battle with cancer, driving his mission to integrate advanced technology into healthcare.

Alex LeBrun: Nabla

Alexandre (Alex) Lebrun is the co-founder and CEO of Nabla, an AI company developing an ambient AI assistant for healthcare professionals. With a background in software engineering and AI, Lebrun has a track record of successful entrepreneurship, having founded and sold two AI-related companies: VirtuOz (acquired by Nuance Communications) and Wit.ai (acquired by Facebook). Before founding Nabla in 2020, Lebrun served as Head of Engineering at Facebook AI Research, working closely with renowned AI experts like Yann LeCun. Nabla’s flagship product, Copilot, aims to alleviate the administrative burden on clinicians by leveraging AI to assist with tasks such as clinical documentation. Under Lebrun’s leadership, Nabla has raised significant funding and gained traction among healthcare providers, with over 20,000 clinicians adopting the platform within its first year of launch.

Munjal Shah: HippocraticAI

Munjal Shah is the co-founder and CEO of Hippocratic AI, a company dedicated to developing safety-focused generative AI models for healthcare applications. With a strong background in AI and entrepreneurship, Shah has previously founded and sold successful startups to Google and Alibaba. At Hippocratic AI, he aims to address critical healthcare challenges, such as staffing shortages and patient access, by creating AI-powered digital health agents capable of performing non-diagnostic tasks. Despite facing legal and financial issues with his previous venture, Health IQ, Shah has secured significant investment for Hippocratic AI, including a $53 million funding round led by General Catalyst and Premji Invest. His commitment to safety and ethical AI development is reflected in the company’s mission to “Do No Harm,” inspired by the HippocraticAI Oath.

Andrew Gostine: Artisight

Dr. Andrew Gostine is the co-founder and CEO of Artisight, a company leveraging artificial intelligence and IoT sensors to revolutionize healthcare automation and optimization. With a background as a critical care anesthesiologist, Dr. Gostine holds both an MD and MBA, combining clinical expertise with business acumen. Founded in 2015, Artisight (formerly Whiteboard Coordinator) develops a Smart Hospital Platform that uses computer vision and AI to streamline clinical workflows, improve patient care, and address healthcare challenges such as staffing shortages and operational inefficiencies. Under Dr. Gostine’s leadership, Artisight has achieved significant improvements in nursing satisfaction, overtime reduction, and turnover rates. His ongoing clinical practice allows him to stay connected with the evolving needs of healthcare professionals, informing Artisight’s innovative solutions for the healthcare industry.

Pawel Lipinski : Talkie.ai

Pawel Lipinski is the co-founder and CEO of Talkie.ai, a company specializing in AI-powered voicebots for customer service automation, particularly in the healthcare industry. With over 20 years of experience in the software industry, Lipinski has a strong background in software architecture and agile methodologies. Before founding Talkie.ai in 2018, he successfully led Pragmatists, a custom software services company that was later acquired by Snowflake. Under his leadership, Talkie.ai has been recognized for its innovative solutions, including being selected for Google’s AI for Health acceleration program. Lipinski’s vision for Talkie.ai focuses on democratizing conversational AI and making it accessible to companies worldwide, aiming to improve efficiency and patient care through advanced AI technology.

Farrukh Khan: Inference Analytics

Farrukh Khan is the founder and CEO of Inference Analytics, Inc., a company focused on improving healthcare delivery through artificial intelligence. With over 25 years of experience in executive leadership, product management, and strategy in the tech industry, Khan has a strong background in AI, Big Data, and analytics. Prior to founding Inference Analytics in 2016, he held significant roles at major tech companies, including serving as VP and GM of IBM’s Big Data Distribution Sector team, VP of Product at IRI, and Senior Product Manager at Informatica. Khan’s expertise spans from early-stage startups to Fortune 500 enterprises, and he has contributed to substantial market cap appreciation in his previous roles. He holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University.