Pharmaceutical wholesaler Suzuken provided ¥2bn ($18.4m) in funding yesterday for Ubie, the Japan-based developer of an intelligent medical consultation service.
Founded in 2017, Ubie provides artificial intelligence-powered consultation service for health facilities. Its products included AI-based symptom checker apps AI Monshin Ubie and Dr Ubie which help patients self-triage, allowing time for care professionals to prepare in advance of their arrival.
Suzuken intends to mobilise a sales network located in 240 branches across 47 Japanese administrative divisions in order to to help Ubie promote and distribute its services in the country.
The investment will be used to ramp up Ubie’s product offering in a bid to protect healthcare workers from Covid-19-induced overwork and boost their productivity. Capital will also be allocated to global expansion and human resources in areas related to customer relations and marketing.
Ubie secured $2.7m in series A funding from energy utility Kansai Electric Power Company’s corporate venturing arm, Kanden Venture Management, in mid-2018, following roughly $550,000 of seed capital from D4V, the joint venture formed by design and consulting firm Ideo and VC firm Genuine Startups, the year before.
