法人別リリース

Japanese Healthcare Startup Ubie, Inc. Closes Extended Series C Round at $45 million, Establishes...

Ubie — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 17:00:00 +0900

TOKYO, Dec. 8, 2022 /Kyodo JBN/ --
Ubie, Inc.
Japanese Healthcare Startup Ubie, Inc. Closes Extended Series C Round at $45 million, Establishes Subsidiary in NY

Ubie, Inc., a Tokyo-based healthcare startup, announced on December 8 that it has closed its Series C round at $45 million by raising $19 million in an extension round. The new funding will enable Ubie to accelerate its growth and strengthen its presence in the U.S., following strong interest and traction in that market. To date, Ubie has raised $76 million in total.

Image: https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M107009/202212010702/_prw_PI1fl_p06nDF09.png

The extension round money was raised from SOGO MEDICAL CO., LTD., AAIC Investment Pte. Ltd., Japan Impact Investment II Limited Partnership, and Rakuten Capital, while loans extended from the Shoko Chukin Bank, Ltd., Japan Finance Corporation, and Mizuho Bank, Ltd.

Previous press release about Series C: https://company.ubiehealth.com/press-release/press-22082022

Purpose of Series C funding
Ubie, with the mission of "guiding people to appropriate medical care with technology," is one of the few companies in the world having direct contact with both patients and medical institutions. With AI as its core technology, the company provides AI symptom checker Ubie ( https://ubiehealth.com/ ) as the gateway to medical care. It will also focus on expanding its business to the U.S. in order to apply the technology it has developed in Japan, one of the leading countries in the medical field.

Subsidiary set up in NY
Leveraging the Series C funding, Ubie established a local subsidiary in New York on October 4, 2022. This is the second overseas corporation following Singapore. The decision follows the fact that the number of users has been increasing steadily since the release of the AI symptom checker in April 2022 in the U.S. The establishment of the local subsidiary will further strengthen the partnership with U.S. pharmaceutical companies, as well as the products, including hiring local people in the U.S.
Address: 1460 Broadway, New York, NY 10036

Participation of new board member
Ryusuke Shigetomi, Chairman and Representative Director of Blackstone Group Japan, was appointed as a Ubie board member as an outside director to strengthen the company’s management structure and governance.

About Ryusuke Shigetomi: In 1984, he graduated from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Law, and joined Industrial Bank of Japan. In 2000, he joined Morgan Stanley, where he was responsible for the Telecom, Media, and Technology Group in Japan and assisted in the execution of various large-scale financing projects and M&A transactions for 22 years. In 2021, he joined the Blackstone Group, where he served as Chairman and Representative Director and was involved in investment and fundraising activities in Japan.

Ubie, Japanese Health-tech Startup, Raises $26.2 Million in Series C, $59.8 Million in Total

Ubie — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 15:00:00 +0900

TOKYO and SINGAPORE, Aug. 22, 2022 /Kyodo JBN/ --
Ubie, Inc.
Ubie, Japanese Health-tech Startup, Raises $26.2 Million in Series C, $59.8 Million in Total

- Bringing Unprecedented Medical Experience by Strengthening Partnerships with Pharmaceutical Companies in Japan and U.S. to Build Medical Data Platform -

Ubie, Inc., a healthcare AI startup with the mission "To develop a healthcare guide for everyone," announced that it has raised $26.2 million (*1) in the 1st round of Series C funding. New investors in the round include Norinchukin Capital Co., Ltd., NVenture Capital Limited (wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Capital Solutions Limited), The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company, Limited, and Egg FORWARD, Inc., while existing investors include SUZUKEN CO., LTD. To date, Ubie has raised $59.8 million (*2).

Ubie is one of the few startups in the world with a medical data platform that has direct contact with both patients and medical institutions. Ubie offers two services that focus on the "medical questionnaire" as a gateway to healthcare, using AI as its core technology.

The "AI-powered symptom checker," provided for patients, asks around 20 questions about their symptoms to discover related diseases and provide more detailed actionable health information. Since its launch, it has been trusted by 5 million monthly users worldwide, including in Japan and the U.S.

Ubie offers "AI-powered patient intake," a service that streamlines the medical interview process for medical institutions. This service is based on a database of approximately 50,000 medical articles from around the world, created by more than 50 active physicians. The service has been introduced to more than 1,000 medical institutions worldwide and continues to improve the operational efficiency of these institutions.

Ubie will aim to bring a new medical experience to Japan and the U.S. by connecting patients, medical institutions, and pharmaceutical companies through the medical data platform it is building to solve the following medical issues;
- ensuring that patients visit the right medical institution at the right time,
- ensuring that physicians can access relevant, up-to-date knowledge from the vast amount of the latest information on diseases and rare diseases that are not their specialty, and,
- ensuring that pharmaceutical companies continue to provide patients with the appropriate information and scientific findings related to their conditions.

Series C funding will be used to fuel business growth in Japan and the U.S. to build a medical data platform that connects patients, medical institutions, and pharmaceutical companies.

Ubie Co-founder and CEO Yoshinori Abe, MD, said: "Not only in Japan, but also in other countries, the current healthcare system is suffering from various losses due to the fragmentation of information held by patients, medical institutions, and pharmaceutical companies. This fundraising aims to accelerate collaboration with pharmaceutical companies and create an unprecedented consumer-centered medical experience utilizing Ubie’s data platform. Ubie already has business with more than 20 major pharmaceutical companies in Japan and other countries, and this brings Ubie closer to realizing its mission 'To develop a healthcare guide for everyone,' both in Japan and the U.S."

Notes:
(*1) $26.2 million = JPY 3.5 billion (as of August 12, 2022)
(*2) $59.8 million = JPY 7.98 billion (same as above)

About Ubie
Ubie is a Japanese health-tech startup founded by a medical doctor and an engineer in 2017. Using AI as its core technology, the company develops and provides an AI-powered patient questionnaire that guides patients from symptoms to appropriate medical care and improves operational efficiency in the medical field. Ubie is promoting the creation of a society in which anyone can access medical care that suits them best.

For more information, please visit: http://company.ubiehealth.com
AI-powered symptom checker: https://ubiehealth.com
(Japanese version: https://ubie.app/ )

Ubie, Japanese HealthTech Startup, Launches AI-powered Symptom Checker in U.S.

Ubie — Tue, 26 Apr 2022 15:00:00 +0900

TOKYO and SINGAPORE, Apr. 26, 2022 /Kyodo JBN/ --
Ubie, Inc.
Ubie, Inc., a healthcare AI startup with the mission “To develop a healthcare guide for everyone," has launched in the United States an "AI-powered symptom checker" ( https://ubiehealth.com ) that allows users to enter symptoms and discover related diseases.

Image: https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M107009/202204180106/_prw_PI1fl_e08qVvYw.png

Ubie, founded in Japan in 2017 by a physician and an engineer, is now based in Tokyo and Singapore. The company has seen rapid growth, ranked #1 in the 2021 "LinkedIn Top Startups." (*) Ubie’s first product offering, the "AI-powered patient intake,” is a service that streamlines the medical interview process for medical institutions. This service is based on a database of approximately 50,000 medical papers from around the world, compiled by more than 50 active physicians. The service, introduced at over 700 medical institutions worldwide, continues to improve the operational efficiency of medical institutions.

Ubie’s second offering "AI-powered symptom checker" uses the same database as the AI-powered patient intake service and evolves daily to reflect clinical diagnosis data from physicians worldwide. Its AI selects the most appropriate questions from approximately 3,500 question data types. After users answer around 20 questions about their symptoms, they can discover related diseases and more detailed information. The system supports users' decision-making to access appropriate medical care, such as an optimal medical department to consult. The number of diseases in the service exceeds 1,100, covering a wide range of medical departments. The service is free, without the need for registration through the website.

Ubie is offering the U.S. version as a new service with customized AI algorithms for questions related to symptoms and disease names, taking regional characteristics such as disease trends into account. Since the company was founded, Ubie has set its sights on overseas expansion and established an office in Singapore in 2020. Now, Ubie has decided to provide a U.S. version of the service after the encouraging results from medical institutions and users in both Japan and Singapore.

Ubie Co-founder and CEO Yoshinori Abe, MD, said: “During my residency at the hospital, I had a patient who had colorectal cancer symptoms that were left untreated for two years. When the patient came to see me, the cancer was already at stage 4 (an advanced stage), and the doctors had no way to help the patient. With today's advanced medical technology in Japan, the survival rate would be about 90% if the patient had visited a medical institution when the patient noticed the abnormality. This experience led me to leave the medical field and founded Ubie. Our goal is to use technology to guide people to appropriate medical care and increase the average life expectancy worldwide. I am confident that Ubie, born of Japan's advanced medical technology, will benefit the health of the American people.”

(*) LinkedIn Top Startups Japan 2021
About Ubie
Ubie is a Japanese healthtech startup founded by a medical doctor and an engineer in 2017. Using AI as its core technology, the company develops and provides an AI-powered patient questionnaire that guides patients from symptoms to appropriate medical care, and improves operational efficiency in the medical field. It is promoting the creation of a society in which anyone can access medical care that suits them best.
For more information, please visit: https://company.ubiehealth.com
AI-powered symptom checker: https://ubiehealth.com ( Japanese: https://ubie.app/ )