Healthcare Conversational AI Startup Botco.ai Raises $2.2M

Healthcare-centered conversational AI developer Botco.ai has closed a $2.2 million seed funding round led by Stout Street Capital. Botco.ai offers healthcare providers a chatbot platform for interacting with patients and automating record updates, services in high-demand as the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the medical field’s adoption of AI solutions.

Botco Hello

Botco.ai’s platform generates a multi-channel chatbot for the client’s website, Facebook Messenger, or other compatible interfaces. The AI can answer patient questions about provided services, insurance coverage, and available appointment slots, scheduling them on behalf of the healthcare provider. The chatbot integrates with the provider’s network, including patient electronic health records (EHR), to ensure its responses are accurate and all of the databases are up-to-date. The software has been certified as compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to ensure that customer information is secure. The AI uses machine learning to analyze its interactions with customers and make improvements. The AI reports its insights to the clients as well, with real-time analysis of the conversations it has with customers.

“The traditional way in which families and patients inquire about healthcare services is not sustainable. Families are forced to sacrifice crucial time — a majority of that time being spent on hold — just to receive a response,” Botco.ai CEO Rebeccas Clyde said in a statement. “On the other side of the phone are our healthcare providers, who are unable to instantly and efficiently assist callers without wait times. The industry is in desperate need of innovation. As we innovate Botco.ai, our mission is to not only ensure that families can more easily manage critical care without long waits and cumbersome systems, but also assist healthcare professionals in providing instant responses to those in need.”

COVID Chats

Botco.ai was founded in late 2017 and went through both the 500 Startups Growth Foundations Bootcamp and the Alchemist Accelerator while picking up $150,000 as an Arizona Commerce Authority’s Innovation Challenge awardee. Stout Street Capital’s UNMET Conferences picked Botco.ai as its first investment, joined by Sterling Road, PHX Ventures, and Arizona Tech Investors to complete the round. Like so many other conversational AI developers, the pandemic spiked interest in the Scottsdale, AZ-based startup, which counts American Family Care and STChealth as clients. The seed round will likely help it match the growing demand, and the company said it plans to apply the new funding to further improve record integration and other aspects of the platform.

There are a rising number of healthcare chatbots, especially COVID-19-focused ones, although the size of the potential market may lower the temperature of any competition. AI for sharing accurate coronavirus information and coordinating appointments is now available in many forms. Orbita’s interactive AI, Microsoft’s customized templates, dental software developer Awrel’s chatbot, and more have all helped triage patients during the pandemic. Nuance was motivated enough to create an omnichannel virtual assistant platform for healthcare providers partly as a result of the demand.

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