Attendees walk through an exhibit hall at AWS re:Invent, a conference hosted by Amazon Web Services, at the Venetian in Las Vegas on November 28, 2023.
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Amazon Web Services and venture capital firm General Catalyst announced Monday a new multiyear partnership to capture part of the growing artificial intelligence market in healthcare.
Through the collaboration, General Catalyst's portfolio companies will leverage AWS's services to more quickly develop and deploy AI tools for healthcare systems. Aidoc, which applies AI to medical imaging, and Commure, which automates provider workflows with AI, will be the first two companies to participate.
AWS and General Catalyst declined to disclose the financial details of the agreement.
“Without a strong partner like Amazon and AWS to stand by them, develop and support these companies together… it won't happen as quickly as we hope,” Chris Bischoff, head of global health investments at General Catalyst, told CNBC in an interview.
U.S. healthcare systems are strained as staff burnout, labor shortages grow and margins are razor-thin. These challenges often seem tempting for entrepreneurial technology start-ups to take on, especially as the multi-billion dollar healthcare industry promises big financial returns.
Hospitals operate in a complex, technology-weary and highly regulated sector where start-ups find it difficult to gain a foothold. General Catalyst hopes to help its companies accelerate the development and go-to-market process by leveraging resources like AWS's computing power.
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General Catalyst is no stranger to major changes in healthcare.
According to a December report from PitchBook, the company has closed more than 60 digital health deals since 2020, trailing only Gaingels and Alumni Ventures. In January 2024, General Catalyst shocked the industry by announcing that its new company, Health Assurance Transformation Company, planned to acquire an Ohio-based health system – an unprecedented move in venture capital.
General Catalyst's “deep understanding” of the financial and operational realities of healthcare systems made it an attractive partner for AWS, Dan Sheeran, AWS general manager for Healthcare & Life Sciences, told CNBC. Sheeran and Bischoff began outlining the collaboration between the two groups after meeting in London about nine months ago.
AWS also has an established presence in the healthcare sector. According to a press release, the company offers more health and life sciences-specific services than any other cloud provider and has entered into additional high-profile AI partnerships with it GE Healthcare, Phillips and others last year.
Sheeran said the partnership between General Catalyst and AWS will span several years, but new tools from Aidoc and Commure will come to market in 2025. He said Aidoc is exploring how it can leverage the cloud to leverage data modalities in pathology, cardiology, genomics and other areas, including molecular information for example.
Aidoc and Commure were chosen to start the collaboration because they have found product-market fit, are operationally ready and are focused on topics that are high priorities for AWS customers, Sheeran said.
“GC has spent a lot of time thinking about how healthcare systems can transform, and we recognize that this won't happen through 1,000 companies and we need solutions that are truly enterprise-grade,” said Bischoff. “Amazon shares the same vision, so let’s start with these two.”
Although the partnership between General Catalyst and AWS is still in its infancy, the organizations believe it will help meet the market's growing demand for new solutions.
“Healthcare leaders who want to realize the benefits of AI now have an easier way to do so,” said Sheeran.
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