OpenEvidence, the AI-powered medical search platform dubbed "ChatGPT for doctors," has secured $210 million in Series B funding, bringing its valuation to $3.5 billion. The round was co-led by Google Ventures and Kleiner Perkins, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Coatue, Conviction, and Thrive Capital.
The funding milestone comes as the platform demonstrates remarkable adoption among U.S. clinicians, with more than 40% of physicians using the service daily across over 10,000 hospitals and medical centers. The company reports supporting over 8.5 million clinical consultations per month, representing a year-over-year growth rate exceeding 2,000%.
Addressing Information Overload in Healthcare
Founded in 2022 by serial entrepreneur Daniel Nadler, OpenEvidence addresses a critical challenge facing modern physicians: the overwhelming volume of medical literature that doubles every five years. "We talk about the golden age of biotechnology where there are new drugs and better drugs developed all the time. But it is like the dark ages for physicians because of burnout," Nadler explained to Forbes. "There is this enormous firehose of information they need to stay on top of, and the human brain is limited in its capacity to read millions of studies."
The platform's proprietary algorithms search millions of peer-reviewed publications from top-tier journals, providing physicians with evidence-based answers in 5-10 seconds, complete with full citations for further reading. The service operates on a free-for-physicians model, generating revenue through advertising similar to Google's approach.
Strategic Medical Journal Partnerships
OpenEvidence has established strategic content partnerships with leading medical publications, including the American Medical Association, The New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and all eleven JAMA specialty journals such as JAMA Oncology and JAMA Neurology. These partnerships enable clinicians to access and synthesize the latest research instantly, bridging the gap between new research and bedside application.
Launch of DeepConsult AI Agent
The company has introduced OpenEvidence DeepConsult, described as the first AI agent designed explicitly for physicians. DeepConsult provides each physician with a private team of PhD-level, medically specialized AI agents capable of autonomously conducting advanced medical research by analyzing and cross-referencing hundreds of peer-reviewed studies in parallel.
While the core OpenEvidence search product delivers rapid answers for quick patient interactions, DeepConsult addresses more complex research needs. Physicians can pose intricate questions and return to comprehensive, PhD-level research reports, revealing novel connections across literature that might otherwise be missed by human researchers.
Despite the significant computational cost—over 100 times that of a standard OpenEvidence search—the company offers DeepConsult entirely free to all verified U.S. clinicians, regardless of their institution.
Market Impact and Growth Trajectory
The platform's growth trajectory illustrates its clinical utility. In July 2024, OpenEvidence supported approximately 358,000 physician consultations in one month. One year later, the company now handles that volume each workday, supporting over 8.5 million clinical consultations monthly.
"It's exceptionally rare to see a product reach this level of adoption—let alone among physicians, who are notoriously hard to win over and exacting in what they trust," noted Mamoon Hamid, Managing Partner at Kleiner Perkins. "The fact that 40% of all physicians in the United States log in daily to OpenEvidence's software is a staggering signal of both trust and utility."
Addressing Healthcare Workforce Challenges
The funding comes at a critical time for U.S. healthcare, which faces dual challenges of clinician burnout and a projected physician shortfall of nearly 100,000 by 2030. "When physicians' lives are hard, patients' lives are harder," Nadler emphasized. "OpenEvidence's commitment to building an AI copilot for clinicians is rooted in the belief that AI will be a force for good in the world, ultimately benefiting both healthcare professionals and the patients they serve."
John Doerr, Chairman of Kleiner Perkins, compared the platform's potential impact to Google's transformation of internet search. "It's hard to imagine a better use for AI than OpenEvidence," Doerr stated. "Daniel Nadler and his world-class team are building what I believe will become an AI-era treasure, a life-saving resource for doctors, patients, and their families."
The new funding will be utilized to further expand OpenEvidence's strategic content partnerships and enhance its extensive library of advanced medical knowledge, positioning the platform to serve an even broader segment of the healthcare community.
