Define Ventures releases AI investing thesis with focus on system transformation

In Define Ventures’ AI investing thesis, released Thursday, the health tech venture fund outlines a vision of artificial intelligence readiness to reengineer healthcare. It’s investing in founders that are willing to do so.

Whereas AI was first used for isolated use cases in healthcare and life sciences, the technology is moving into an era of systemwide transformation. Define is investing in founders that have multiple products in the pipeline and can deploy them into multiple teams in an organization, Chirag Shah, partner at Define Ventures, told Fierce Healthcare in an interview.

Many health systems have taken first steps into AI, such as running pilots. Now, as providers face compounding economic pressures, AI needs to produce real results and cost savings. AI technology has advanced enough to be able to do that if guided by the right hand, Define writes.

Define Ventures manages about $800 million in assets, and its companies are at incubation, seed funding, series A and series B stages. The more than two dozen companies in its portfolio include 9amHealth, Cohere Health, Hims & Hers, Layer Health and Luminai.

“[Healthcare has] started with use cases that are fairly cut and dry, and, I would say, represent just the starting point in terms of the work that we can automate and take off people's plates,” Shah said. “We're starting to move further up the stack.”

To show how AI can rebuild healthcare, Define uses the analogy of a house, which it calls the House of Healthcare. Per the analogy, AI products impact healthcare in one of three ways—the front door, the foundation or the rooms—but understanding how all the components work together is key to achieving market hold, it says.

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