Catalia Health Secures $2.5M in Fresh Funding to Advance AI-Powered Medication Adherence Robot Mabu

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that Catalia Health recently completed a $2.5 million angel financing round, led by Khosla Ventures and participated in by NewGen Capital, Macnica Ventures, and existing investors including Q Venture Partners Limited and InnoLinks Ventures. Following this round, Catalia Health’s total fundraising has reached $3.75 million. The company will use the funds to develop and deploy care management systems for three different scenarios, with plans to launch the first two products this summer.

Adhering to medical advice and taking medication on time and consistently is key to treating chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and cancer. However, many elderly patients often forget to take their medications on schedule due to factors like declining memory, requiring assistance from family members or doctors to effectively manage their conditions. To improve patient medication adherence, Catalia Health, based in San Francisco, has developed Mabu, an AI-powered patient interaction robot.

Catalia Health is an organization dedicated to patient behavior research and services, committed to addressing two aspects of healthcare: improving patients’ health outcomes and enhancing the capacity and efficiency of healthcare institutions. Founded in San Francisco, USA, in 2014, the company assists hospitals and care facilities in better serving patients by studying individual patient psychology, behaviors, and habits. In June 2015, Catalia Health secured $1.25 million in seed funding from Khosla Ventures, which was primarily used to collaborate with its first pilot customers and expand the company’s scale.

The company’s flagship product, Mabu, is an AI-powered medical interaction robot capable of communicating with humans. By engaging patients in conversation, it reminds them to take their medications on time and provides emotional and psychological support. Through interactions with patients, Mabu continuously learns about their behaviors and preferences, thereby tailoring unique conversational content for each individual. Additionally, the Mabu robot collects and analyzes data, providing insights to healthcare institutions to help improve the quality of diagnosis and treatment.

Mabu features a robust cloud-based system that engages patients in two- to three-minute daily conversations to assess their health status. By collecting data on each patient’s health conditions and unique personality traits, Mabu tailors appropriate dialogues for various contexts. In addition to medication management, the system provides daily fitness and nutritional guidance to help patients improve their health and reduce the likelihood of readmission. If a patient’s condition deteriorates, Mabu can remotely alert the relevant healthcare professionals for assistance.

Cory Kidd, CEO and Founder of Catalia Health, has been working in the medical technology sector for nearly two decades, with a commitment to applying innovative technologies to address healthcare challenges. He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he conducted research on human-computer interaction within the MIT Media Lab. His research revealed that screen-based interactive physical robots offer significant psychological and clinical advantages. This insight served as the impetus for him to assemble a team to design the Mabu robot and to establish Catalia Health.

Regarding this financing round, Cory Kidd stated, “This investment enables us to achieve two significant milestones: launching Mabu to our first cohort of patients and generating evidence that demonstrates the platform’s benefits for both patients and clients.” Kidd also expressed his sincere gratitude to Khosla Ventures for its strong support in this Series B funding round, following its initial investment in 2015.

Homan Yuen, General Manager of NewGen Capital, another investor in this funding round, also stated in a press release: “NewGen Capital is delighted to partner with the Catalia Health team, as we recognize the potential of artificial intelligence and natural language processing technologies to transform patient care, enhance monitoring, and improve medication adherence. We firmly believe that technology can be leveraged to enhance quality of life, and Catalia Health serves as an excellent example of this.”

Currently, the company is testing Mabu as a medication adherence aid, conducting pilot trials with several pharmaceutical companies, healthcare systems, and home health organizations.