Ubie, which has thus far developed a number of AI-based healthcare products, has raised JPY2 billion ($18.7M) in Series B financing from SUZUKEN CO.,LTD, a Japanese pharmaceutical distributor that also entered into a strategic business partnership with Ubie.
With this new round of funding, Ubie seeks to realize rapid growth of its health-tech platforms, expand research and development capabilities, and staff its various sales and engineering teams. These funds will enable the company to quickly scale its Hospital SaaS (Software as a Service) product “Ubie for Healthcare Providers”, and its consumer application, “Ubie AI Symptom Checker”, to reach new partners and customers nationwide. In addition, Ubie also aims to expand its presence abroad in the near future as well.
“Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, anxiety is increasing as the healthcare system is on the verge of collapse,” says Yoshinori Abe, Ubie co-founder and MD. “I strongly believe that our company is going to play a crucial role in combating the current crisis. During these uncertain times, our mission; “to develop a healthcare guide for everyone” has never been more important. With our AI-based symptom checker and clinical decision support technology, which we have been developing since 2013, we will make healthcare accessible to everyone by creating a “search engine” for healthcare. We are going to go full throttle to realize our company mission as soon as possible, with help from this fresh round of funding, and with the full support of all our stakeholders.”
“Today, technology supports every aspect of life” says Kota Kubo, AI engineer and co-founder of Ubie. “In the current coronavirus pandemic, new technologies are being utilized to stop the infection. However, many of the technologies and products that we use daily in Japan are developed by foreign tech companies. As a Japanese tech entrepreneur, this fact makes me disappointed and impatient. The COVID-19 situation is still very unpredictable, but progress to this point continues to prove to the world that Japan’s healthcare system is effective and resilient. I believe it is our turn to support our healthcare workers. I am confident that “made-in-Japan” tech companies such as ourselves are capable of leading dramatic change in this space. In order to further prepare our world-class healthcare system for the current pandemic, and for the future, we will continue to deliver products that combine medical expertise with the best technologies in the world.”