Kaiser Permanente fund, Yale New Haven back supply chain startup

Hospital supply chain software company Clarium raised $10.5 million in a funding round, the startup said Tuesday.

The round was led by venture capital firm General Catalyst, with backing from the venture arms of Oakland, California-based Kaiser Permanente and Houston-based Texas Medical Center. New Haven, Connecticut-based Yale New Haven Health also joined the round. Other investors included venture capital firms AlleyCorp, 1984 Ventures and Alumni Ventures.

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Clarium has developed a software platform geared toward helping hospitals automate their supply chain operations. The software uses artificial intelligence to assist hospitals in managing inventory and determining whether facilities have clinically appropriate substitutes for certain medical supplies.

The funding takes Clarium’s total capital raised to $16 million.

The company started in May 2020, when supply chain shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic were squeezing hospitals. Clarium Founder and CEO Steve Liou said he collaborated with several providers as he was building out its software platform.

"We were spending multiple days per week meeting with their chief supply chain officers and various direct reports designing and building this platform,” Liou said. “We wanted to build something that was designed and built for the supply chain by the supply chain [team] at hospitals.”

Clarium has also worked with multiple provider organizations to pilot the technology. At Yale New Haven Health, 300 individuals across seven departments use Clarium's software, vice president of supply chain Jacqueline Epright said in a news release.

Liou said he has seen a narrative shift among some health system executives who had previously been hesitant to invest in anything that could possibly improve supply chains.

“Historically, supply chain has been viewed as a cost center, but that’s changed because of COVID-19,” Liou said. “Executives are starting to realize supply chain is the lifeblood of their operations.”

Along with the funding round, Clarium is announcing availability of its AI-workflow based platform Astra OS. The technology combines data from a hospital’s various software programs — such as its electronic health record, revenue cycle management and enterprise resource planning systems — to help inform leaders of potential supply chain needs.