Samsung, Bayer join $90 mn investment in AI healthcare app Ada Health

Samsung Electronics Co. and Germany’s pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG have made a joint investment in the Berlin-based artificial intelligence (AI) healthcare app Ada Health.  

Samsung’s US-based venture capital fund Samsung Catalyst Fund said on May 28 that it participated in the recent Series B round of funding that raised a total of $90 million for Ada Health.

The former chief strategy officer of Samsung Electronics, Young Sohn, is reported to have managed Samsung’s investment in the healthcare app.

This round of funding was led by Bayer through its investment unit Leaps by Bayer. Other than Bayer and Samsung, Vitruvian Ventures, Inteligo Bank, F4 and Mutschler Ventures joined the investment round.

Founded in 2011, Ada Health’s AI-based remote healthcare app Ada provides services to around 11.4 million users globally. Ada’s AI chatbot asks a series of questions to the users to determine their health issues and offer guidance on the next steps accordingly.    

Ada Health is reported to have more than 10 physicians under direct employment to answer more professional queries made by its users.

The fresh funding of $90 million primarily on expanding its services in the US market, according to Ada Health.

Samsung has been making regular investments in healthcare startups in recent years. Another investment made during this month, also together with Bayer, was the $130 million Series C funding by the British health-tech startup Huma Therapeutics.

Samsung made the investment through its other venture capital unit Samsung NEXT.

Write to Hyung-suk Song at click@hankyung.com
Daniel Cho edited this article.