The market for AI notetaking devices has exploded in the U.S., with the category generating over $600 million in revenue last year, according to a Menlo Ventures report. And as startups like Heidi Health and Freed, have shown, there’s decent demand for this tech in healthcare, where doctors and clinics see the potential for an AI assistant that can help them keep track of patient conversations, surface health records, and lower their administrative burdens.
But those apps don’t do much for patients, which is why Kin Health is building a notetaker that can transcribe your visits to doctors, parse medical advice, and surface next steps when required. To that end, the startup has raised $9 million in a seed funding round led by Maveron.
The app is similar to a meeting notetaker: you can record doctor visits, and it will return an AI summary of the meeting, with the next steps, all of which you share with family and friends if you want to. It also lets you note down questions that you might want to ask during your next visit.
Kin Health says it encrypts all patient data, and that summaries are kept private by default. The tool is not HIPAA-certified, as it is a patient-facing one, but it adheres to the same privacy standards, the company said.
The free app is built by physicians Arpan and Amit Parikh, along with Kyle Alwyn, who previously built online prescription service HeyDoctor and sold it to health platform GoodRx. Doug Hirsch and Trevor Bezdek, co-founders of GoodRx, are founding partners and executive chairmen at the company.
Co-Founders Arpan Parikh, Amit Parikh, and Kyle Alwyn Image Credits: Kin HealthImage Credits:Kin Health
“We have a lot of these storage cabinets where our health data can live, but we don’t have a way to convert that into a utility that we can use to drive our behavioral change. Our goal is to create this health graph where we can store your information from multiple different sources,” Alwyn told TechCrunch over a call.
Kin Health says that its summaries are provided after a few stages of processing. After transcribing the visit, an algorithm turns the transcription into a clinical narrative, which gets crunched into a user-facing summary with action items. The company says it is leaning on specialized medical models to power the transcription, and that it evaluates and observes outputs at different stages to ensure answers are accurate.
But AI in healthcare is being received with a measure of caution and apprehension. Privacy experts and researchers have raised concerns over data security, accuracy of AI, consent mechanisms, the quality of generated notes, and their effectiveness.
Dr. Rebecca Mishuris, chief health information officer and VP at Mass General Brigham, a healthcare organization in Boston, argues it is important for physicians to review any notes generated by AI.
“Generative AI will hallucinate; that is the nature of a technology built on patterns and prediction. That is why it is so important for clinicians to review the drafted notes before signing them. At the end of the day, the responsibility for the documentation falls to the clinician,” she told TechCrunch over email.
Kin Health currently only shows notes from conversations it records during consultations, but the company said it plans to bring in data from other health sources, including physicians’ own notes through electronic health record (EHR) systems, this year.
The company says it will keep the app free of cost forever, and monetize via referrals to services such as specialists and labs. The startup is taking a leaf from GoodRx’s playbook, which also keeps the core product free and earns commissions by referring other services.
Natalie Dillion, a partner at Maveron, said healthcare provider-side tools often expect patients to coordinate their own treatment actions. “Kin is built to solve an entirely different consumer need: it can travel with them between specialists, systems, and providers. It’s not beholden to any single health network or EHR relationship. It’s built to serve the patient, not the institution, and that’s a massive distribution advantage,” she said.
The funding round also saw participation from Town Hall Ventures, Eniac Ventures, Flex Capital, Foundry Square Capital, Pear VC, and The Family Fund. GoodRx’s Hirsch and Bezdek; angel investors Jay Desai, Nabeel Quryshi, Alex Cohen and Saharsh Patel; and more than 30 physicians also invested.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.
The Leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele, has warned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu against betrayal from some of his cabinet members and some governors within the ruling party.
In a statement signed by his media aide, Osho Oluwatosin, Primate Ayodele made it known that some of the governors in the ruling party are planning to work with former Vice President Abubakar Atiku towards the 2027 presidential election.
He made it known that some top members of the President’s cabinet will also work with the former Vice President.
He also said that Atiku is working with United States politicians.
Primate Ayodele said: “Atiku is planning seriously with the support of America to get victory. He will do a lot of things, and Tinubu shouldn’t be surprised that some governors he believes will work with Atiku secretly. Some members of his cabinet will work with Atiku secretly.”
Furthermore, Primate Ayodele revealed that INEC isn’t ready to conduct a credible election. But according to him, the date of the election isn’t good enough for a credible poll to hold in Nigeria.
Primate Ayodele said the election will be marred by violence and disappointment.
The cleric said that there will be consequences if the election is held on the said date.
He said: “INEC isn’t ready to do credible election, it can be marred with violence and disappointment. The day isn’t yet properly in order for an election that will bring a right president. There will be serious violence and inconclusive results in some states.
"The date isn’t too certain and there will be consequences if it is done. There will be fake ballot papers, and rigging will be the order of the day. INEC will also play their own part.”
Continuing, Primate Ayodele asked the President to do something urgently about the economic situation of the country because it will affect a lot of things.
“The economy hardship will fight harder, and the strategy to fight it isn’t sustainable. Tinubu cannot do this alone; his ministers ought to do something about it, and I see inflation will start rising significantly, and people will not be happy with this. Tinubu should quickly do something about it. They may feel it is not necessary but time will tell," he added.
Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Minister Nyesom Wike has taunted the 2027 presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, Peter Obi, saying the former Anambra State governor can only win the coming election on social media.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ town hall meeting in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State on Saturday, Wike said he would vote for Obi if the election were to choose a social media president but insisted that the NDC candidate could not govern Nigeria.
“Truly speaking, I give Obi president of social media. If you were voting for the president of social media, I would vote for him,” he said.
Wike also described Obi as a stingy politician whom the country's economy cannot be entrusted to.
DAILY POST reports that the Minister, who is heading the All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential campaign in Abuja and Rivers has always criticized Obi and other candidates.
He had also expressed confidence that President Bola Tinubu would be re-elected in the January 16 election, dismissing the chances of the opposition.