An AI healthcare firm with a deep presence in the NHS has revealed its UK expansion plans after raising a mammoth $340 million in funding.
Heidi has closed a $100m Series C funding round led by Blackbird, with participation from other existing investors including Phoenix Court – the home of LocalGlobe, Latitude and Solar funds – Point72 Private Investments and Headline.
The round values Heidi, headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, at $900m. It has also secured a $240m growth investment led by General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund (CVF), providing large scale go-to-market investment capacity.
The investment supports Heidi’s next phase of growth, which will see a deepening of adoption across the NHS, private healthcare settings and health systems globally, while expanding how Heidi supports clinicians throughout their workflows.
This includes helping with the administrative work that surrounds a patient visit, resulting in faster completion of follow-up tasks alongside improved clinical note-taking. The roadmap also includes building the regulatory and clinical safety foundations required to support these capabilities.
“The UK is Heidi’s European hub. We currently employ 67 people here and are continuing to scale the team in the region,” the founders told BusinessCloud.
“Our largest procurement is with NHSE Midlands, covering 15 acute trusts and 1,239 GP practices – the biggest procurement of this technology in the UK to date. Other NHS customers include West Hertfordshire, Modality Partnership and One Care, alongside strong private sector traction.
“We have an office in Farringdon, London with 67 employees, and are continuing to grow our headcount. We plan to double our European headcount over the next 12 months.”
The Government’s 10 Year Health Plan for England sets a goal of making AI every clinician’s trusted assistant. This ambition sits against a backdrop of a clinical workforce already stretched thin, with a rising admin burden for 80% of NHS professionals, significantly impacting their mental load.
Heidi directly alleviates this pressure, aiming to double the world’s healthcare capacity while protecting what matters most: the human connection between clinicians and patients.
Heidi is building an AI Care Partner that supports clinicians across the whole working day, from administration and clinical knowledge to the work around the patient visit. Every hour of admin lifted from a clinician’s day is time that can be given back to caring for patients – more time listening, explaining and treating.
Dr Thomas Kelly, co-founder and CEO, added: “From the day I started Heidi, the ambition was always bigger than writing doctor’s notes. I imagined AI sitting alongside clinicians throughout their work, from documenting consultations to helping carry out the work that follows them.
“That’s the ambition we’re continuing to build towards. This round gives us the opportunity to go further in the UK; developing products that work the way the NHS needs them to, investing in the essential regulatory groundwork, and ultimately giving clinicians more time to focus on delivering care.”
Two years since launch, Heidi’s AI Care Partner has supported more than 175m patient visits and over 67m clinical hours. In addition to this AI scribe, Heidi has also launched Evidence, giving clinicians access to trusted medical research at the point of care; Remote, the hardware device built for reliable audio capture; and Dictate, a voice-to-text feature.
The platform is being used in 190 countries and 110 languages. Annual recurring revenue has grown from $1m to $50m.
“We are proud to continue backing Heidi and their mission to double the world’s healthcare capacity and deliver relief to every clinician across the globe,” said Julia Svennerstål-Hawkins, general partner at Phoenix Court.
“The team’s strong domain expertise and product – that clinicians deeply trust – make this ambition absolutely achievable. These goals clearly respond to the core challenges in the UK’s health system – clinician wellbeing, retention and patient care – as evidenced by Heidi’s impressive NHS market penetration to date.”