🦄 Unicorner Startup of the Week: Apella
 
 ✍️ Notes From The Editors  
Congratulations to OpenSea on their recent Series C round, which brings them to a $13.3 billion decacorn valuation! Its recent growth comes as no surprise—according to Financial Times, NFTs were a whopping $40 billion market in 2021.
 
On a different note, we’ll be highlighting the healthcare industry today. We wanted to cover a company like Apella to show just how important technology can be in hospital settings, and what those innovations might look like. Hope you enjoy!
 
 - Arek and Ethan 🦄
 
 
AI for operating rooms
 
 
Apella uses artificial intelligence to make surgeries better. The company’s software aims to improve various aspects of the overall surgical process (like hospital operations, service quality, staff training, and real-time decision-making) using data collected by sensors installed in operating rooms.
 
 
🔗 Check them out: apella.io
 
 
💰 Business Model
Apella licenses its software and AI technology to individual hospitals.
 
📈 Traction and Fundraising
  • Raised $21 million Series A round with investors like Casdin Capital, Vensana Capital, Twine Ventures, Upside Partnership, Operator Partners, and PFM Health Sciences
  • Has deployed to a handful of hospitals across the U.S. and plans to expand to another 5-10 hospitals in the first half of 2022
 
👫 Founder(s)
  • David Schummers, CEO: Currently Managing Member @ Occam Labs; Previously VP of Biz Dev @ Auris Health, VP Marketing @ Providence Medical Technology, VP Marketing @ EndoGastric Solutions, Student @ Oberlin College
  • Cameron Marlow, CTO: Previously Founder and CTO @ Physera, Researcher @ Stanford, Data Science Manager @ Facebook, Research Scientist @ Yahoo, Media Arts and Sciences PhD @ MIT, CS BS @ UChicago
 
🔮 Our Analysis
Whether using Google Maps to quickly find a restaurant, Amazon to efficiently get same-day delivery on an urgently needed item, or Uber to get a last-minute driver near you, we benefit from innovations enabled by tech in many ways. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said about surgeries. As Apella CEO David Schummers says, “hospitals run on legacy technologies, often using landline phones and overhead pagers to communicate.” But in situations where quick decision-making can mean the difference between life and death, technology that informs and organizes data can make a strong impact. That’s exactly what Apella is doing. By using AI to learn from data fed in from previous surgeries, Apella makes smart suggestions and swiftly addresses inefficiencies in operating rooms. While the company is still in its early stages, it’s very promising, and we’ll be tracking its expansion as it plans to work with additional hospitals later this year.
 
📚 Further Reading
 
 
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Made with 💜 by the Unicorner Team 🦄
 
 
🎁 Bonus Content!
At Unicorner, we’ve covered industries ranging from web3, prefabricated houses, and sex tech. No stone has been left unturned. So this week, we have a question for you: what industry would you like us to focus on more? Reply to this email letting us know.
 
 
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