It happens via blurry paperwork and running out of time. O’Hara, through COVID, was chief information and transformation officer at Illinois-based medical center Springfield Clinic. And he and his team were feverishly trying to figure out why the financials of the system’s northern rural market were so wildly off. Data was diffuse at best, and Excel files were “wheel of death-ing.” And come the next board meeting, lacking clarity, leadership shut it all down. 

And by that time, it wasn’t just a chaotic financial problem, it was a human problem.

“Patients, for weeks and weeks later, were saying ‘where am I going to get care now?’” said O’Hara. “And I was like, ‘holy crap, this is really painful.’ They had to drive three hours to come to our main sites. And one in three Americans are in this health desert. When care gets shut down, it’s a huge problem.”

Three years later, O’Hara remains entrenched in the messy economics of hospitals. Healthcare business rules run upside down. Consider: In a “normal” business, you receive a good or service, pay for it there, move on. In healthcare, you see the doctor, there’s probably a copay, and then the real bill shows up months later. (And even then, what the service cost and what the provider gets paid could be different.) So, cash management for hospitals is a moving-target-game of fuzzy, delayed data. Payer middlemen, high labor and facilities costs, and a politically-shifting landscape add to the mix. 

“It’s a massive problem, that this $5 trillion industry is essentially operating at a 1% margin,” said O’Hara. “Hospitals are almost forecasting into a fog.”

O’Hara founded Translucent, an AI-native healthcare finance startup, in 2024 with this idea—that every hospital should have its own AI “financial leader” that always monitors data and offers specific suggestions. The company raised its $7 million seed round in August, and now has raised its $27 million Series A, Fortune has exclusively learned. GV led the round, with participation from NEA, FPV Ventures, and Virtue. 

“Imagine: It’s 9 PM, and I have to pull from seven different systems, then put it into Excel,” said O’Hara. “Then, you have to include your company’s business rules and run an analysis of what you should do tomorrow. Ultimately, there’s not enough people to do that daily.” 

This is especially true in rural health systems, often pressured by financial and workforce challenges. When it comes to finances, it’s hard to find and budget the staff to do this work manually at every turn.

“[Translucent] generates reports that I don’t have to do anymore,” said John Everett, chief financial officer at Colorado-based Wray Community District Hospital and Clinic, and a Translucent customer. “I used to spend 40 to 60 hours building those spreadsheets, now that takes two minutes. We’re making real-time decisions, as opposed to making decisions late by six months to a year.”

Those delays can be costly, not just in the financial but human sense.

“Healthcare is failing financially,” said O’Hara. “You’re running your business in the rearview mirror.”

See you tomorrow,

Allie Garfinkle
X: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com

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VENTURE CAPITAL

- AMI Labs, a Paris, France-based AI lab, raised $1.03 billion in funding. Cathay Innovation, Greycroft, Hiro Capital, HV Capital, and Bezos Expeditions led the round.

- Legora, a Stockholm, Sweden-based collaborative AI platform for legal work, raised $550 million in Series D funding. Accel led the round and was joined by existing investors Benchmark, Bessemer Venture Partners, General Catalyst, and others.

- Chowbus, a Chicago, Ill.-based developer of POS systems, marketing solutions, and AI-powered tools for culturally-rooted restaurants, raised $81 million in funding. Prysm Capital and Left Lane Capital led the round and were joined by others.

- Juicebox, a San Francisco-based AI-powered recruiting platform, raised $80 million in Series B funding. DST Global led the round and was joined by Sequoia, Coatue, Y Combinator, NFDG, and Verified Capital.

- Jazz, a New York City-based data loss prevention platform, raised $61 million across seed and Series A rounds. Glilot Capital Partners and Team8 led the round and were joined by Ten Eleven Ventures, Merlin Ventures, and others.

- Dify, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based agentic AI workflow builder, raised $30 million in pre-Series A funding. HSG led the round and was joined by GL Ventures, Alt-Alpha Capital, 5Y Capital, and others. 

- PactFi, a New York City-based private credit operations platform, raised $25 million in Series A funding. 7RIDGE’s Ecosystem Impact Fund led the round and was joined by Vestigo Ventures.

- Sandbar, a New York City-based developer of a voice first AI ring and conversational notes app, raised $23 million in Series A funding. Adjacent and Kindred led the round.

- Outpost, a London, U.K. and New York City-based developer of ecommerce infrastructure for selling globally, raised $17.5 million in Series A funding. Ribbit led the round and was joined by existing investor Better Tomorrow Ventures and others.

- Unreasonable Labs, a Palo Alto, Calif. and Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of AI tools for knowledge discovery, raised $13.5 million in funding. Playground Global led the round and was joined by AIX Ventures, E14 Fund, and MS&AD Ventures.

- Amigo AI, a New York City-based platform for building and training patient-facing clinical agents, raised $11 million in Series A funding. Madrona led the round and was joined by Optum Ventures.

- Depot, a Beaverton, Ore.-based software development platform, raised $10 million in Series A funding from Felicis, Y Combinator, and Pioneer Fund led the round. 

- Lux Aeterna, a Denver, Colo.-based space satellite developer, raised $10 million in seed funding. Konvoy led the round and was joined by Decisive Point, Cubit Capital, Wave Function, and others.

- Remitian, a Miami, Fla.-based AI-powered remittance platform, raised $7 million in seed funding from Ryan Lazanis and others.

- AgentMail, a San Francisco-based developer of email inboxes for AI agents, raised $6 million in seed funding. General Catalyst led the round and was joined by Y Combinator, Phosphor Capital, and angel investors.

- Captur, a New York City‑based developer of AI infrastructure for enterprise mobile apps that instantly verifies user-submitted photos for quality and accuracy, raised $6 million in seed funding. Rally Ventures led the round and was joined by Sure Valley Ventures.

- Nyad, a Birmingham, Ala.-based developer of AI software for wastewater operations, raised $1.3 million in pre-seed funding. Boost VC led the round and was joined by Draper Associates, Halogen Ventures, and others.

PRIVATE EQUITY

- Ardian agreed to acquire a majority stake in Casaforte, a Varese, Italy-based self-storage company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- ATIS, a portfolio company of Thompson Street Capital Partners, acquired Soberman Engineering, a Toronto, Canada-based elevator and escalator consulting company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- BV Investment Partners acquired a majority stake in Moxe Health, a Madison, Wisc.-based clinical data exchange platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.

EXITS

- Google acquired Intersect Power, a Beaverton, Ore.-based data center company, from Greenbelt Capital Partners, TPG, and Climate Adaptive Infrastructure for $4.75 billion.

- Morinaga & Co. agreed to acquire My/Mochi Ice Cream, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based mochi ice cream brand, from Lakeview Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed.

FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS

- Breakout Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, raised $114 million for its third fund focused on companies blending science and technology.

- Scout Ventures, an Austin, Texas-based venture capital firm, raised $125 million for its fifth fund focused on emerging tech companies.

PEOPLE

- Lerer Hippeau, a New York City-based venture capital firm, hired Madeleine Goldberg as an investor. Previously, she was with Insight Partners.

- Uplift Investors, a Darien, Conn.-based private equity firm, hired Evan Trent as chief strategy officer. Previously, he was with Covista.