Infermedica 2019: Year in Review

Photo of Piotr OrzechowskiPiotr Orzechowski
December 31, 2019
... min read

December is when we take some time off and reflect on what has happened throughout the year. With every passing year I appreciate more how lucky I am to work alongside so many talented and passionate people at Infermedica.

I really feel that 2019 was a breakthrough year for us. We’ve managed to greatly expand our team, sign up new clients, improve the product offering and finally raise new funding from several great investors.

https://a.storyblok.com/f/120667/1200x630/15762adf1c/2019_year_in_review_image.png
Illustration by Piotr Pawlina.

Family getting bigger

In January, we moved into our new office. Even though we rented all the available space, it’s getting crowded again. We are now a team of 80 people - mainly medical doctors, software engineers and data scientists – who are passionate about improving primary care with AI. That’s 30 amazing members more than at the end of 2018.

I feel that this year has also allowed us to better establish our culture of honesty, feedback and support. We strive to keep these as our fundamental values as we move forward and scale our team.

Commercial growth

In 2018 we set ourselves the ambitious goal of tripling our contracted recurring revenue, and I’m proud to say that we… almost made it. Certainly this wouldn’t have been possible without the trust and commitment of our commercial partners. Here I’d like to thank all of them, especially:

  • UnipolSai – Italy’s largest insurance company, that has made our symptom checker available to its clients in Italy.

  • Du – one of the largest telecoms in the UAE, for showcasing and promoting our technology in the Middle East.

  • Allianz Partners, PZU Zdrowie, Dovera and Médis – our long-standing European insurance partners, for continuing to support our work.

We feel privileged that we can provide our technology to your patients, and we’ll strive to maintain the highest quality of our products.

Product

Speaking of products, some more good things happened:

On top of that, we also have a new Infermedica website, which we designed from scratch.

New investors on board

Our growth wouldn’t be possible without the invaluable support of our investors. In May 2019 we closed our seed round of $3.65m. I feel blessed to work and learn from amazing new partners who have decided to bet on Infermedica’s vision:

  • Karma Ventures – our lead investor and excellent Estonian VC fund with a people-first approach.

  • Inovo Venture Partners – perhaps one of the best early-stage VC funds in Poland.

  • Muller Medien – a very friendly German family-owned VC fund.

  • DreamIT Ventures – an early stage VC fund from the US, running an incredible acceleration program in health.

Thank you for trusting us.

Why is 2020 a turning point for healthcare?

What changes are on the horizon at the beginning of 2020? Eight remarkable transformative forces are expected for the upcoming months.

What’s next

Without a doubt, healthcare is going to face serious challenges in the upcoming years. A shortage of nurses and doctors and increasing costs of care are only some of the reasons why we believe in our work. Our ultimate goal is to create technology that will be able to assist both patients and providers in making fast, accurate and convenient diagnosis.

2020 will definitely be a busy year for us:

  • Soon we plan to roll out the first version of the medical content for pediatrics, which is a major product milestone on our roadmap.

  • We are continuing to develop doctor-facing solutions that will extend our product offering

  • We plan to grow our team and hire more amazing people - especially in sales, marketing and product. Please check out our job offers in case you want to help us out!

  • We are preparing to set up a new office location – to be announced soon.

  • We are going to look for Series A funding and search for the best investors to support our growth with their knowledge, network and funds.

As every year, I feel immensely grateful to our team for their amazing commitment and passion. Nothing would be possible without you, and it’s a true privilege to work with you every single day. I’d also like to express my appreciation to all our partners, shareholders, users and everybody supporting our mission. We would have failed many times without people who believe in us.

I wish all of you a very healthy and successful year. See you in 2020!