Olive AI had big ambitions to change healthcare, as well as 950 hospital clients at one time, but ultimately ran out of time and money, Columbus Business First reported Nov. 16.
CEO Sean Lane, a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, started the company in 2012 to apply robotic process automation to health system billing and administrative functions.
"Olive is not an administrative assistant. It is a thing that can shift $1 trillion in cost to things that matter," Mr. Lane told Columbus Business First in 2018. "The good thing is I knew it was going to be really, really hard. It pales in comparison to five combat tours and fighting the Taliban."
But after raising more than $850 million, being valued at $4 billion and employing as many as 1,400 people, Olive folded in October, selling its remaining assets to two other companies.
Emily Evans, managing director of health policy at market researcher Hedgeye Risk Management, told the publication a 2021 conference keynote from Mr. Lane left her unimpressed. "This is not somebody who knows much about healthcare, the way he talked about it," she said. "He may understand technology, but he doesn't understand this industry. The ramp he was describing was probably very appealing if you're a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley."
Comparisons have been made online between Mr. Lane and Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos and Adam Neumann of WeWork — "charismatic figures who raised huge sums for societal transformation that was never delivered," the news outlet reported (though unlike Ms. Holmes, Mr. Lane has not been accused of fraud). Mr. Lane didn't respond to the publication's requests for comment.
The company also benefited from the low-interest rates that led venture capitalists to flood promising digital health startups with money. "(Before 2022) there was a lot of advice given to entrepreneurs: 'Grow, grow, grow. Don't worry about profit,'" Alex Timm, CEO of health tech startup Root, told Columbus Business First. "Now that money isn't free, you're seeing the tide go out on venture capital in a big, big way.
"It's immensely painful and really hard to build a company," he added. "There's a million reasons why they don't work. They had a great idea. We need more people to run after great ideas, not fewer."