OpenEvidence, “ChatGPT for Doctors,” doubles in value to $12 billion
A startup widely known as “ChatGPT for doctors” has raised a new round of funding that values the company at $12 billion.
Miami, Florida-based OpenEvidence has closed $250 million in financing led by Thrive Capital and DST, the company told CNBC. The startup first raised outside capital in February, when it raised $75 million from Sequoia at a valuation of $1 billion, before its valuation rose to $6 billion in October.
In less than a year, OpenEvidence has raised $700 million from investors Googles venture arm, NvidiaKleiner Perkins, David Sacks’ Craft Ventures and Mayo Clinic.
The company was founded in 2022 by Daniel Nadler, who previously built Kensho Technologies, an artificial intelligence company that was acquired by Standard & Poor’s in 2018 for about $700 million, and Zachary Ziegler, a Harvard AI doctoral student. Nadler’s latest venture provides a chatbot for doctors whose AI models are trained on data and information from leading scientific journals, Nadler said in an interview.
“‘ChatGPT for physicians’ is a useful shorthand, but what we’re really doing is helping physicians make important clinical decisions at the point of care,” Nadler said. “It is not trained on the open internet or social media, which can introduce low-quality medical information.”
Nadler claimed OpenEvidence is the most used AI platform by physicians in the U.S., with more than 40% of physicians using the tool. He pointed to the enormous opportunity in health care, which accounts for nearly 20% of U.S. gross domestic product with annual spending of $5 trillion.
“Health care is the largest segment of the real economy,” said Nadler. “People realize there could be a lot of winners in this space.”
These names could include OpenAI and Anthropic.
OpenAI launched ChatGPT Health earlier this month, while Anthropic has Claude Healthcare. Both are HIPAA-compliant extensions of their popular consumer chatbots.
As competition increases, Nadler said his company’s competitive advantage lies in its focus on physicians, quality of data and a first-mover advantage.
“We have already collected hundreds of millions of real clinical consultations from verified physicians – this feedback loop is incredibly difficult to replicate,” Nadler said. “Even if someone were to copy the playbook today, they would still be way behind because it’s not just about the partnerships, it’s about the real usage data.”
Rely on advertising
OpenEvidence said it had annual revenue of over $100 million last year, driven primarily by organic growth. According to Nadler, 95% of new users hear about OpenEvidence from another doctor.
“The majority of health care in America does not occur in billion-dollar hospitals in New York or San Francisco,” Nadler said. “This happens in small practices that have neither IT departments nor budgets for expensive software.”
OpenEvidence was one of the first AI startups to rely on advertising for revenue, which Nadler said allows for faster adoption and broader usage compared to a paid subscription model. Companies can pay for promotions through video ads in the OpenEvidence app.
The artificial intelligence industry has started to adapt to advertising-based revenue. Last week, OpenAI announced that it was testing an ad-supported version of ChatGPT. Nadler said he is trying to be more disciplined than some companies that are “openly planning to burn through billions or tens of billions over the next few years.”
“This is a big and very risky bet,” Nadler said, adding that OpenEvidence is trying to balance growth with ultimate profitability. “We’re not running this like a private equity portfolio company, but we’re not planning on burning through billions of dollars in the next year either.”
AI startups are picking up this year where they left off in 2025.
According to CB Insights, there were six AI funding rounds totaling more than $1 billion in the third quarter of last year. Anthropic is in talks to raise another $10 billion starting in January, while Elon Musk’s xAI announced a $20 billion round this month.
Nadler said he has felt the pressure as major tech companies aggressively pursue acquisitions in the space, but remains committed to building OpenEvidence as a standalone company.
“I’ve been down the acquisition route before,” he said. “It can be great. But this time I want to build something that will last for years to come.”
As for an IPO, he said SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic, all rumored to be potential 2026 candidates, must go public first.
“Nature has an order,” said Nadler. “First, foundation model companies go public. Then comes the application layer. That’s how the Internet developed, and that’s how this cycle will work.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the company’s location.
REGARD: OpenAI investor letter
