The problem
A worried patient Googles symptoms at midnight and books the wrong specialty; the next morning a doctor spends the first ten minutes of a seven-minute slot asking what a tablet could have asked in the waiting room. Japan’s doctor shortage — worst in rural areas — makes that wasted time expensive.
How it works
Ubie’s free symptom checker interviews patients with an AI questionnaire covering thousands of conditions, then points them to likely causes, the right specialty, and nearby care. The same engine ships to hospitals as an AI intake tool: patients answer on a tablet before the visit, and the doctor starts from a structured summary instead of a blank page.
Pain points
Misdirected bookings, paper intake forms, and consultation time burned on routine history-taking while rural clinics run short-staffed.
Business model
Consumer checker free as a funnel and training loop; hospitals pay SaaS for AI intake; in the US, revenue comes from partnerships with pharmaceutical, advocacy, and life-sciences companies plus provider solutions.
Challenges
Every market adds medical-liability and regulatory risk; the US push competes with EHR giants for hospital budgets; and a high-profile miss by the checker would damage the trust the whole model runs on.
Funding
- Raised: $125M+ cumulative including a $26.2M Series C first close (Aug 2022) and a $19M extension (90% equity, 10% debt), backed most recently by Google, NTT Docomo, Japan Post Capital, Seven-Eleven Japan, Japan Finance Corporation, and Shoko Chukin Bank (company announcements).
- Valuation: MISSING.
Latest — June 2025
On 26 June 2025 Ubie announced cumulative funding above $125M and said its US effort now targets generative-AI and provider solutions: 4M+ US users with 85% organic growth since 2024, acceptance into the Mayo Clinic Platform Accelerate program, and partnerships across patient advocacy and life sciences.