AI as a preventive tool: Healthplus.ai raises €2.3 million for international fight against postoperative infections

With a recent capital injection of €2.3 million, led by Elevating Capital and LUMO Labs, the startup is on the verge of international scaling. The investment marks a turning point for the company, which is transitioning its AI system PERISCOPE® from academic validation to broad clinical implementation across Europe and the United States.

Seamless integration into the clinical workflow

The biggest challenge for medical AI startups is not algorithm development alone, but integration. Hospitals operate with complex Electronic Health Records (EHR) from providers such as Epic, Oracle Cerner and ChipSoft. Rather than building a standalone portal, Healthplus.ai has chosen to embed PERISCOPE® directly into these existing workflows. The system reuses data already present in the patient record, meaning doctors and nurses do not need to perform any additional actions to generate a risk profile.

This choice for deep integration is strategically critical. In a sector that suffers from high workloads, a tool that demands extra time is a non-starter. Moreover, the system's negative predictive value of more than 97% for low-risk patients provides a sound clinical basis for early hospital discharge. This relieves pressure on bed capacity, one of the most acute bottlenecks in current healthcare.

The shift from curing to preventing

Traditional medicine is reactive: we treat when the fever rises. Healthplus.ai is pushing the sector toward a change in perspective. The core of their approach is that the system not only flags who is likely to develop an infection, but identifies with high precision who is not. In a world of scarcity, knowing who does not need extra attention is at least as valuable as knowing who does. The startup has already received recognition for this innovative approach with the CES 2024 Innovation Award.

"With this funding, we are strengthening our ability to integrate clinically validated, regulatory-approved AI into everyday hospital practice."

Dr. Bart Geerts, CEO and founder of Healthplus.ai

The growth capital will be used, among other things, to obtain FDA approval, a necessary step for the US market. The challenge here is not only technological but also regulatory. The ISO and CE certifications the startup already holds (achieved under the stringent Medical Device Regulation) form the foundation for a scalable model that extends beyond the Dutch borders.

What this means for the innovation climate

The success of Healthplus.ai reflects the maturation of the Dutch HealthTech ecosystem. Where earlier generations of startups frequently stalled in the 'pilot phase' within a single academic medical centre, this funding round demonstrates that capital and confidence exist for international expansion. With participation from regional investors such as ROM InWest and specialist funds such as Pathena Venture Capital, a bridge is being built between local innovation and global impact.

The key question for the coming years is how quickly hospitals can shed their conservative stance toward AI-driven decision-making. For Healthplus.ai, the stakes are high: they must prove that their algorithms perform just as effectively in the day-to-day pressures of a Danish or American hospital as they do in the controlled environment of their first Dutch partners. If that promise is fulfilled, 'predictable surgery' will become the new standard.