What was the catalyst for launching Corti?
Corti was founded in 2016 in Copenhagen by myself and my cofounder Lars Maaløe. Lars, with his PhD in machine learning, and my experience as a multi-entrepreneur in AI from Scandinavia to Silicon Valley, has made for a solid partnership. We’ve always been driven by a belief in AI's transformative potential for healthcare. We started Corti as a research company, with a bold thesis that Generative AI would become an integral part of every patient interaction in real time.
From day one, we’ve been driven by the desire to reduce disparities in healthcare. Our mission is that everyone should have access to medical expertise, no matter where they are. That’s what drives me every day - to think that, thanks to Corti, a patient somewhere might get more time with their doctor or avoid a misdiagnosis that could have been life-altering.
Tell us about the business – what it is, what it aims to achieve, who you work with, how you reach customers and so on?
Corti is an AI-powered platform designed exclusively for healthcare. Enhancing decision-making across the entire patient journey, our AI can be used to take notes, journal, research, bill, code and deliver quality assurance, and integrates seamlessly into nearly any system in over 10 languages and across three continents. Healthcare providers using Corti report significant improvement in quality of care, reduction in time spent on administrative tasks by up to 80 percent and revenue savings through expert guidance and support in real-time. Our customers range from large healthcare institutions to smaller clinics, from emergency calls to outpatient billing, and we reach them through strategic partnerships, direct engagement and word-of-mouth recommendations.
How has the business evolved since its launch?
When we founded Corti in 2016, our focus was on emergency medicine, assisting in detecting cardiac arrests and later experiencing a commercial boom triaging COVID-19 calls. Today, we are building the most reliable and precise Generative AI platform tailored to healthcare's unique needs, scaling globally to enhance real-time consultations across healthcare and reducing the margin for error by up to 40 percent.
Tell us about the working culture at Corti
Working at Corti means being committed to making the healthcare system better for all. Our team is driven by this belief - that we can and must do more to support caregivers. This mindset fuels us to go above and beyond, embracing challenges, staying curious, learning from failure, and waking up every day ready to try again.
How are you funded?
The strong support we have received from investors over the years is testament to the confidence they have in our vision and the transformative potential of our technology. We're well-positioned thanks to strategic investments, including our Series B led by Atomico and Prosus Ventures, which allows us to continue driving innovation and improving healthcare outcomes globally."
What has been your biggest challenge so far and how have you overcome this?
We are in the midst of an AI boom in healthcare, but not all AI is created equal. While general-purpose AI models like ChatGPT have made headlines with their impressive capabilities, the healthcare industry requires something more precise, more reliable, and purpose-built for the complexities of care. This is what we are building at Corti.
While there are many solutions out there, healthcare AI is high stakes. As a peer-reviewed company that has been researching in this sector exclusively since 2016, it can be challenging to witness adoption of more limited solutions that are better equipped to whip up a quick recipe or experiment with haikus than navigate the difference between life and death. There is zero room for preventable error when AI is involved in medical decision making, and by building and training on healthcare data alone, we bring LLMs to providers with best-in-class accuracy and the least amount of hallucinations.
How does Corti answer an unmet need?
Overburdened by an ageing population and an overwhelming volume of patients, healthcare professionals are drowning in administrative tasks and struggling to meet the high demands of their cost and care. This is where Corti can help. We lighten the load on healthcare providers by reducing daily workloads and minimising errors, transforming every patient interaction with our trusted AI platform for healthcare.
What’s in store for the future?
Since expanding as a commercial entity in 2020 we have doubled year over year and are confident this exponential growth will continue in the years ahead. We’re positioned for continued growth in the US and European markets as well as piloting in new regions such as Australia. Backed by new strategic partnerships and major new hires from giants like Microsoft and Philips Speech, we’re on track to power over 100 million patient interactions annually by 2025, with a focus on building the most trusted and impactful AI solutions in healthcare.
What one piece of advice would you give other founders or future founders?
Stay laser-focused on the patient and the problem. Healthcare is not just another sector; it’s a realm where lives are at stake. Understand the issues deeply, collaborate closely with those on the frontlines, and develop solutions that truly add value. Measure your success by the lives you touch and improve, not just the bottom line.
And finally, a more personal question! What’s your daily routine and the rules you’re living by at the moment?
Eat healthily (mostly plants), don't drink carbs, do physical activities most days, work more than your competitors, spend every moment left with the family - and maybe if there's time, get 6h of sleep!
Andreas Cleve is the CEO and cofounder of Corti.
