Samsung Electronics Invests in German Startup Ada Health Developing 'AI Doctor App'

Strategic Investment in German AI Medical Diagnosis Startup
Led by German Pharmaceutical Company Bayer, Samsung Catalyst Fund Participates
Former Samsung Electronics President Son Young-kwon Joins Ada Health Board
Samsung Increases Investment in Remote Medical Diagnosis Post-COVID

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] Samsung Electronics has made a strategic investment in the German artificial intelligence (AI) medical diagnosis startup ‘Ada Health’. Amid the growing importance of non-face-to-face remote medical care since COVID-19, this investment incorporating AI technology is part of Samsung Electronics’ strategy to secure AI core technologies, which are future growth engines for the company.

Ada Health, a German startup that develops and operates an ‘AI doctor application (app)’, announced on the 27th (local time) that it has raised $90 million in Series B funding. The investment was led by the German pharmaceutical company Bayer, with Samsung Catalyst Fund, Vitruvian Partners, and Intelligo Bank participating as investors.

Founded in 2011 in Berlin, Germany, Ada Health develops and operates the ‘AI doctor app’. The Ada app features an AI chatbot that operates 24/7, identifying patient symptoms and providing diagnoses through Q&A. It schedules face-to-face medical appointments within three days and shares medical records through a data system. The app has been downloaded over 11 million times to date.

AI doctor application 'Ada' developed by Ada Health / Photo by Ada Health website

Additionally, it is reported that Young-kwon Son, former Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of Samsung Electronics, has joined the board of directors of Ada Health through this investment. Son, who stepped down as an advisor last year, is an M&A expert who led Samsung’s acquisition of Harman and has been actively involved in venture incubating, discovering and nurturing new technologies.

The Samsung Catalyst Fund is a venture investment fund operated by the Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center under Samsung Electronics. It analyzes and invests in new technologies of hundreds of startups annually. The fund focuses on cutting-edge business areas at the forefront of future technologies such as AI, cloud, and quantum computing, leading Samsung Electronics’ discovery of new growth engines. Previously, the fund invested in various innovative startups including German wearable robot company German Bionic, US quantum computing company IonQ, German fintech service company Solarisbank, and US cloud platform company Rescale.

In particular, recently there has been a trend of increasing investments in the remote medical field, which has gained attention since COVID-19. In July last year, the fund invested in US telemedicine startups Genome Medical and Preventis Solutions, and in November of the same year, it invested in US medical data sharing company Human API. In mid-May this year, it announced an investment in UK remote medical solution provider Huma, and about two weeks later, invested in Ada Health, the developer of the ‘AI doctor app’.