Abridge CEO Shiv Rao on raising $300 million, a prospective IPO, and the future of healthcare

In February, when I profiled Rao—CEO and cofounder of Abridge, and a practicing cardiologist—he told me that it was growing old with your patients, living a full life together. Rao himself has multiple lives, still showing up to take on clinical shifts and building Abridge, a healthcare AI startup that’s made its name in medical transcription. We catch up because Abridge is barreling towards its future rapidly—the company just raised a $300 million Series E led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Khosla Ventures. 

“You grow old with your patients as a clinician, and that’s such an incredible privilege that doctors and nurses get,” said Rao. “In this new life, I think we’re growing old with all of our partners. It’s a different altitude. As we grow old with Kaiser, we’re growing old with 26,000 clinicians at Kaiser, and the several millions of patients that those clinicians serve. That kind of impact is part of this fundraise: This is a decades-long journey with our partners, and we wanted to be able to explicitly say that they can rely upon us for the long journey.”

The company is now valued at $5.3 billion, and is in more than 150 enterprise health systems. Abridge has venture-backed competition—including Nabla, which in June raised a $70 million HV Capital-led Series C, and Ambience, whose backers include Kleiner Perkins and a16z. Abridge’s scale and growth, however, is indisputable—when I wrote about Abridge in February, the company’s valuation at its Series D was $2.75 billion. The natural question, at this point, becomes: What about an IPO?

“At this point in time, the amount of capital that we’ve got in the bank, the amount that we’re going to invest into R&D, I think we need to preserve all the optionality in the world,” said Rao. “Whether it’s to go public or to stay private for longer, from my vantage point, we should be optimizing for the mission and whatever is going to get us there. If there comes a time when that’s the right thing to do for the mission, then that’s the right thing to do. But at least at this point in time, it just feels like we’ve got decades of runway.”

Rao believes that the future of AI in healthcare is one that makes doctors’ and nurses’ lives easier, streamlines billing, and honors the doctor-patient relationship. 

“We started this company with a thesis we still believe: We’re not going to fully automate a doctor or a nurse in the next five to ten years,” said Rao. “We still absolutely believe that. And if that’s true, then conversation, spoken dialogue, will continue to drive so many workflows in healthcare, including documentation. We’ve also now started to demonstrate a secret hiding in plain sight—that providers are compensated for the care that they document, not the care that they deliver. And doing right by these notes and documents, is doing right by revenue cycle. So, whether we put it on our website or not—we’re starting to—we’re a revenue cycle company, along with the other things we do.”

Figma!…While Rao may not sound like he’s in a hurry to go public, there is some news on the IPO front—Figma has filed to go public on the New York Stock Exchange. Read our FIG analysis here.

See you tomorrow,

Allie Garfinkle
X: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
Submit a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here.

Nina Ajemian curated the deals section of today’s newsletter. Subscribe here.

Venture Deals

– Klar, a Mexico City-based digital financial services platform, raised $170 million in funding. General Atlantic led the round and was joined by Santander, DEG, Grupo Televisa, existing investors Prosus, IFC, Mouro Capital, Quona Capital, and others.

– Genesis AI, a Paris-based AI research lab and robotics company, raised $105 million in funding. Eclipse and Khosla Ventures led the round and were joined by Bpifrance, HSG, and others.

– Syntis Bio, a Boston-based obesity, diabetes, and rare diseases oral therapies developer, raised $33 million in Series A funding. Cerberus Ventures led the round and was joined by Mansueto Investments, Woori Venture Partners, Apollo Labs, existing investors BOLD Capital Partners, W. R. Berkley, Safar Partners, and others.

– Emerald AI, a Washington, D.C.-based AI-powered energy consumption platform for data centers, raised $24.5 million in seed funding. Radical Ventures led the round and was joined by NVentures, AMPLO, CRV, Neotribe, and others.

– Remark, a Boston-based AI-powered e-commerce solutions provider, raised $16 million in Series A funding. Inspired Capital led the round and was joined by Stripe, Neo, Spero Ventures, and others.

– Deeto, a New York City-based AI-powered customer marketing platform, raised $12.5 million in Series A funding. Jump Capital led the round and was joined by UpWest, TAL Ventures, Mertor, and TAU Ventures.

– Civ Robotics, a San Francisco-based construction robotics company, raised $7.5 million in Series A funding. AlleyCorp led the round and was joined by Bobcat Company, ff Venture Capital, and existing investors.

– TopK, a Prague-based search engine for developers and AI agents, raised $5.5 million in funding from Earlybird, KAYA, Irregular Expressions, and angel investors.

– Zango, a London-based regulatory compliance AI solution, raised $4.8 million in funding. Nexus Venture Partners led the round and was joined by South Park Commons, Richard Davies, Alan Morgan, and others.

Private Equity

– Apollo acquired the gaming and digital business of International Game Technology, a London-based gaming technology developer, and Everi, a Las Vegas-based casino games technology supplier, for approximately $6.3 billion in cash. The combined company will operate as IGT.

– Alsendo, backed by Abris Capital Partners, acquired Spedire.com, a Rovereto, Italy-based shipping platform, and SpedirePRO, a Rovereto, Italy-based shipping platform, for €5.5 million ($6.5 million).

– Aquiline Capital Partners acquired the family office services business of SEI, an Oaks, Pa.-based technology and investment solutions provider for financial services. The business will be renamed Archway. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Charger Investment Partners acquired Versa-Drill, an Indianapolis-based drilling rigs manufacturer. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– PestCo, a portfolio company of Thompson Street Capital Partners, acquired the assets of Chicagoland Pest Services, a Chicago-based pest control services provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Trinity Hunt Partners acquired a majority stake in Blackhawk Supply, a Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based HVAC parts distributor. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Exits

– Clio agreed to acquire vLex, a Miami-based legaltech platform, from Oakley Capital, which reinvested and acquired a minority stake in the company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Harvest Partners acquired The Learning Experience, a Deerfield Beach, Fla.-based early childhood education provider, from Golden Gate Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

– Stone Point Capital acquired The Difference Card, a Mount Kisco, N.Y.-based healthcare cost containment solutions provider, from Northlane Capital Partners. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Truelink Capital Management acquired Zep, an Atlanta-based cleaning solutions company, from New Mountain Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Other

– Intralot agreed to acquire the international interactive business of Bally’s, a Providence-based gambling company, at an enterprise value of €2.7 billion ($3.2 billion).

– H.I.G. Capital acquired 4Refuel, a Toronto-based mobile on-site refueling services provider, from Finning for up to $400 million CAD ($293 million).

– DigitalBridge and La Caisse acquired Yondr, a London-based hyperscale data centers company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Grammarly agreed to acquire Superhuman, a San Francisco-based AI email app. Financial terms were not disclosed.

IPOs

– Figma, a San Francisco-based web design software company, filed to go public on the NYSE. The company posted $821 million in revenue for the year ending March 31, 2025. Index Ventures, Greylock Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, and Dylan Field back the company.

Funds + Funds of Funds

– Shore Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm, raised $450 million for its third fund focused on food and beverage companies.

People

– Behrman Capital, a New York City-based private equity firm, will make Simon P. Lonergan its sole managing partner. Grant G. Behrman will step down as managing partner and become senior partner and cofounder.