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Funding at the intersection of healthcare and AI has been on a tear this past year. Even so, investment remains below the heights scaled during the 2021 market peak.

Last year, more than $7.5 billion globally went to companies applying advances in artificial intelligence to health-related areas such as medical services and pharmaceutical development, per SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ . This year is off to a brisk start as well, with nearly $1.68 billion already invested.

Yet even amid the hottest period ever for AI funding, investment in AI-enabled health startups has remained below 2021 levels. For perspective, we charted investment and deal totals for the past five years below.

Ultra-large rounds

Totals for this past year got a boost from a handful of ultra-large rounds.

By far the largest funding recipient was San Francisco-based , developer of an AI platform for drug discovery that secured a $1 billion last spring led by and .

The next-biggest was , a New York-based startup using AI to speed up the drug development process, which pulled in $372 million in a Series D last summer led by .

Strong start in 2025

Although we’re only about six weeks into the new year, large AI-related health funding rounds are already accumulating.

The largest was a $275 million January for , a San Francisco startup that makes an AI-enabled cloud tracking platform for healthcare providers. And last week, , an AI-driven platform for clinician conversations, picked up a $250 million .

Two other big rounds went to , a generative AI healthcare startup that raised $141 million in a Series B at a $1.64 billion valuation, and , a company applying AI to pharmaceutical R&D that raised a $100 million Series E.

Where are the exits?

The past year also brought some exits for companies at the intersection of AI, pharma and health.

The smash hit of the past year was , an artificial intelligence precision medicine company that went public in June. Its stock has performed well, with shares up several-fold and a recent market cap around $11 billion.

Two others that went public in March have struggled. Shares of , which uses AI-driven algorithms to mine through proteins to find naturally evolved genome editing tools, are down more than 70% since the IPO. , developer of a machine learning-driven precision treatment platform for psychiatric care, has also underperformed.

No obvious slowdown ahead

So far, there’s no obvious sign that investors are tapping the brakes on investments at the intersection of AI and health. We might even see a pickup as more health and biotech startups incorporate AI as a core focus area, given the technology’s rapid advancement and increasing sophistication.

As for public offerings, potential for this space looks a bit brighter than for tech overall. Even as venture-backed technology offerings have slowed to a crawl, we’ve continued to see a steady flow of biotech IPOs, including both AI- and non-AI-focused startups.

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Related reading:

• Global Venture Funding And Unicorn Creation In 2021 Shattered All Records 
• Startup Funding Regained Its Footing In 2024 As AI Became The Star Of The Show
• Eye On AI: Funding To Biotech And Healthcare Startups Using AI Takes Off After Dip In 2023
• Healthcare Leads For New Unicorn Counts In January As AI Theme Continues

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