Digital Health Startup Alike Raises $5M Funding Round Led By Pitango HealthTech Fund

Israeli startup Alike, a digital health firm based on artificial intelligence, big data, and crowdsourcing, announced Tuesday it had raised $5 million in a seed round led by Pitango Venture Capital’s HealthTech fund.

In the current medical system, many patients often complain that the information they receive is unfamiliar to them and not personalized. Founded in March, Alike aims to empower the patient by helping him translate complex data into accessible information that can assist him and help connect him with similar populations. The company leverages AI, big data, and wisdom of the crowd (crowdsourcing) to achieve these insights.

The startup, currently operating in stealth mode, was founded by leading digital health and high-tech entrepreneurs including Amnon Bar-Lev, former president of cybersecurity startup Check Point Software, Prof. Varda Shalev, founder of Maccabi Health Services’ Institute of Health Research and Innovation, and Ohad Zado, an artificial intelligence expert.

The company currently employs eight people and plans to recruit about 15 more by the end of the year.

“After two years at Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Medicine, during which I closely studied the intersection between IT and medicine, I joined forces with two leaders with a real passion to make the world a better place and a shared vision to change healthcare by utilizing state-of-the-art technologies, with the main focus being on the patient,” said Bar-Lev, CEO and co-founder.

Pitango’s HealthTech fund, managed by Ittai Harel and Dr. Guy Ezekiel, both partners at Pitango Venture Capital, has already made investments in companies like Israeli medical tech startup Variantyx since it closed in June 2019.

“The unique combination of highly experienced founders with proven capabilities and young entrepreneurial spirit coming together to improve health around the world,” is what makes Alike “a very special place,” said Dr. Ezekiel in a statement.

It will “change how people use their medical information,” he said.