Dublin’s Akara raises $5.5m to accelerate hospital AI tech

Dublin-based health-tech company Akara has secured $5.5 million in venture funding to advance its artificial intelligence and sensor technology for hospital operations. Led by Locke Health, this latest round brings Akara's total funding to $12.3 million. The investment, which also saw participation from VTC Ventures, the EIC Fund, CommonKind, and NovaVector Holdings, among others, is aimed at accelerating hospital adoption, expanding operations and engineering teams in Ireland, and enhancing the company's AI agents across various healthcare applications.

Akara's technology combines sensors, robots, and AI tools to assist hospitals in reducing administrative work, coordinating services, and treating more patients. Wall-mounted sensors automatically capture the usage of clinical spaces, while software, likened to an air traffic controller, detects key events and notifies staff when necessary.

AI agents then enable healthcare professionals to inquire about the data in natural language and generate reports, thereby minimizing the effort required to convert operational information into practical improvements.

The company's privacy-conscious approach employs thermal sensing and edge AI to address data collection concerns and eliminate additional costs and infrastructure upgrades. Akara's sensors analyze activity using thermal data without capturing detailed visual images of patients or staff, while the AI technology runs locally on the device. This combination simplifies deployment and reduces the reliance on extra computing infrastructure, making the technology more affordable and straightforward to implement.

Conor McGinn, co-founder and CEO of Akara, emphasized that hospitals are under immense pressure to accomplish more with existing personnel and resources. The startup aims to alleviate this pressure by returning time to staff and helping hospitals treat more patients. With the new funding, Akara intends to further accelerate hospital adoption, bolster its operations and engineering teams in Ireland, and broaden its AI agents in a wider range of healthcare applications.

Patrick Brennan, managing director of Locke Health, highlighted Akara's potential for a strong return on investment without imposing heavy burdens on hospital budgets, infrastructure, or staff.