OpenEvidence might be the new kid on the medical chatbot block, but it’s already “the fastest-growing platform for doctors in history,” and $75M of Series A funding just made it the youngest unicorn in healthcare.
Founder Daniel Nadler describes OpenEvidence as an AI copilot, with an experience that feels similar to ChatGPT yet is actually a “very different organism” due to the data it was trained on.
OpenEvidence functions as a specialized medical search engine that helps clinicians make decisions at the point of care, turning natural language queries into structured answers with detailed citations.
- The model was purpose-built for healthcare by exclusively using training data from strategic partners like the New England Journal of Medicine – no internet forums or Reddit threads in sight.
- The kicker? It’s available at no cost to verified physicians and generates its revenue through advertising.
Happy users are their own growth strategy, and OpenEvidence claims that 25% of doctors in the U.S. have already used the product since its launch in 2023. It’s also adding 40k new doctors each month through word-of-mouth referrals and glowing reviews of its ability to:
- Handle complex case-based prompts
- Address clinical cases holistically
- Provide really good references
The 1,000 pound gorilla in this space is Wolters Kluwer and its UpToDate clinical evidence engine.
- Although Wolters Kluwer has been inking partnerships with companies like Corti and Abridge to bring new AI capabilities to UpToDate, OpenEvidence is built from the ground up as an AI-first solution.
- If WoltersKluwer is an encyclopedia, OpenEvidence is ChatGPT, and it’ll be interesting to watch the plays that both sides make as they battle for market share.
The Takeaway
OpenEvidence isn’t a solution in search of a problem, it’s a sleek new tool addressing an immediate need for plenty of providers. It’s rare to see the type of viral adoption that OpenEvidence managed to generate, which is a good reminder that many areas of healthcare change slowly… then all at once.
