Former Eli Lilly Exec Secures $52M for New Healthcare AI Startup

BREAKING: Former Eli Lilly executive Michelle Carnahan has just announced the launch of her healthcare AI startup, Arbiter, after raising a remarkable $52 million in seed funding from family offices. This development, confirmed exclusively to Business Insider, places Arbiter’s valuation at $400 million.

Carnahan, who previously served as president of the VC-backed startup Thirty Madison, is venturing into the healthcare AI space without traditional venture capital backing. Instead, she turned to family offices, including co-leads TriEdge Investments and MFO Ventures, alongside private equity firm WindRose Health Investors. This unique funding approach aims to provide specialized healthcare insights critical for Arbiter’s mission.

Arbiter’s innovative platform is designed to streamline healthcare operations by automating administrative tasks such as referrals and appointment scheduling. Remarkably, even at just six months old, the technology is already live with over 1,000 clinicians, a feat Carnahan attributes to the expertise and connections of her family office investors.

In a statement, Carnahan emphasized the strategic shift away from conventional VC funding, stating, “This gives us not only a knowledge advantage but a distribution advantage in partnerships that would take years to develop.” This is crucial as Arbiter seeks to address the growing challenges of fragmented healthcare systems.

Earlier in her career, Carnahan spent 26 years at pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and played a pivotal role at Thirty Madison during its explosive growth, culminating in a $1 billion valuation in 2021. Following that success, Thirty Madison was acquired in September 2023 for over $500 million in an all-stock deal.

The foundation of Arbiter was bolstered by Carnahan’s collaboration with Dr. Eric Moskow, co-founder and chairman of MFO Ventures. Their shared frustrations over the healthcare system’s data silos led to Arbiter acquiring a data platform from SecondWave Delivery Systems. This acquisition is expected to accelerate Arbiter’s market entry by 18 months.

The innovative technology merges patient data into a cohesive platform, evaluating health risks to enhance clinical decision-making. Arbiter’s initial application leverages AI agents for proactive patient engagement, improving appointment scheduling and follow-ups. The startup aims to create a unified “operating spine” for healthcare, set to launch next year in collaboration with major national payers and provider networks.

Looking ahead, Arbiter is exploring additional acquisitions to strengthen its data strategy and enhance its AI capabilities. The startup is particularly focused on technologies that support healthcare actions leading up to medical visits, such as prior authorizations and care in non-hospital settings.

Carnahan’s ambitions are vast, aiming to shift healthcare from a reactive to a proactive model, utilizing predictive AI to anticipate health events. In facing competition from other AI-driven healthcare solutions like Hippocratic AI and DexCare, Arbiter is well-positioned with a strong team of advisors, including Dr. Clive Fields, co-founder of VillageMD, and Dr. Ainsley MacLean, former chief medical information officer at Kaiser Permanente.

Dr. MacLean praised Arbiter’s potential, likening it to becoming “the Palantir of healthcare,” a testament to its innovative vision and deep understanding of the healthcare landscape.

As Arbiter moves forward, the healthcare community will be watching closely for its next steps and contributions to an industry in desperate need of transformation. Share this urgent news as Carnahan and her team redefine healthcare operations with cutting-edge AI solutions.