Our Investment in Heidi Health’s Series A: An AI Scribe to Relieve Doctors' Admin Stress
We at Headline are beyond excited to announce our lead investment in Heidi Health's Series A funding round. Like many in the VC industry evaluating the increasingly crowded medical scribe market, my initial reaction was skepticism: How does this market continue to differentiate? But I’ve learned to spend time peeling back the onion whenever customers are demanding something so fervently.
The Burden Behind Healthcare's Innovation Challenge
We often underestimate the immense burden doctors carry—the emotional toll of patient care combined with mountains of administrative work that leads to stress, burnout, and ultimately, lower-quality care. What stood out about Heidi wasn't just their approach to documentation, but their bold, contrarian choices that resonated with clinicians worldwide.
At Headline, we're deeply aligned with Heidi's philosophy: take a global, customer-first approach, prove value before focusing on monetization, and make contrarian bets that others overlook. Their approach is more than paying off—it's revolutionizing how doctors interact with technology.
The Data Points That Jumped Off the Page
A few data points really jumped off the page for us:
- Cohort usage expansion: Each new cohort of users engages with the product more intensively than the previous cohort—a clear signal of improving product-market fit over time.
- Cross-specialty penetration: About 50% of usage comes from outside their top 5 medical practice groups—a breadth of adoption we haven't seen from anyone else in healthcare scribes.
- Unprecedented scale: In just over a year, Heidi is facilitating 1 million patient consultations weekly—20 million in their first 12 months—overtaking far more established players across the USA, UK, and Australia.
- Explosive growth trajectory: In the six months since we first evaluated the deal, they've more than tripled both users and revenue.
The Contrarian Choices That Set Heidi Apart
What truly differentiates Heidi is their willingness to challenge conventional wisdom:
- Customization focus over EHR integrations: While competitors raced to build clunky EHR integrations, Heidi prioritized templates and customization—giving doctors exactly what they want: notes that match their personal style.
- Global from day one: Building an international solution from the start that works across diverse healthcare systems rather than conquering one market at a time.
- Product-led out of Australia: Creating a PLG motion on par with, if not better than, the likes of Canva and Atlassian—proving exceptional consumer-grade software can emerge from anywhere.
- Customer obsession at scale: Fostering an obsessive level of customer engagement that we had truly never seen before in healthcare technology.
A Vision Beyond Documentation
The World Health Organization projects a shortfall of 10 million healthcare workers by 2030. By automating documentation—which consumes over two hours of a doctor's day—Heidi isn't just building a productivity tool; they're addressing a global healthcare capacity crisis.
The Heidi team has proven they can execute product-led distribution from free to paid, paid to enterprise, faster than any company I've seen, let alone in healthcare. They've achieved this not in one country, but five, demonstrating that their solution transcends the peculiarities of individual healthcare systems.
Why We Are All-In
The Heidi team will continue to drive innovation through product-led delivery and customer obsession to make clinicians' lives better everyday. We know they will continue to deliver on this promise as they expand beyond scribing to become an essential partner for healthcare professionals worldwide. The Heidi team’s relentless focus on product excellence, customer experience, and sustainable growth made this an easy investment decision. We couldn't be more excited for what's ahead.