Aiva Health Gets Investments From Google and Amazon

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Aiva Inc., a digital health startup based in West Hollywood, has snared two investments in one week from tech behemoths Google and Amazon.com Inc.

The company, founded by tech guru Sumeet Bhatia, announced on Sept. 24 an unspecified investment from the Google Assistant Investment program to accelerate development of its bedside voice assistant for hospitals and clinics.

Aiva got another investment on Sept. 27 from Amazon’s Alexa Fund for the artificial intelligence-powered smartphone app with voice commands, which helps caretakers heed calls for care. Terms of the deals were not disclosed.

Before this week, the company had raised $100,000 from investors, according to Crunchbase. Investors include Act One Ventures, Mucker Capital, Techstars and the Cedars-Sinai Accelerator Powered by Techstars.

Aiva, founded in December, took part in last year’s Cedars-Sinai Accelerator Powered by Techstars. It soon had contracts with Amazon, Sheridan In Home Care, Cedars-Sinai and Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital.

Its executives said it aimed to have 1,000 bedside voice assistant devices – at $100 per bed, per month – in use by mid-2018.

Health business reporter Dana Bartholomew can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @_DanaBart.