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Hike Medical raises $22.5M to modernize the medical device supply chain from referral to device delivery. * Led by Saga Ventures, the investment will enable Hike to scale beyond manufacturing custom insoles to owning the entire chain for device-based care * Hike deploys back-office AI agents to handle insurance approvals, digitizes clinical evaluations and 3D prints custom devices in-house, reducing wait times, remake rates and wasted spend SAN FRANCISCO-(BUSINESS WIRE)-Hike Medical, the company automating device-based care from referral to dispense, today announced it has raised $22.5 million in seed and Series A funding to reimagine the entire supply chain for orthotics and prosthetics and durable medical equipment (DME), so more people can access the care that keeps them moving. The round was led by Max Altman at Saga Ventures, with additional participation from Indicator Ventures, Fifth Down Capital, RiverPark Ventures and other funds, strategic investor and commercial partner Orthofeet, Inc., and angel investors such as Monaco CEO Sam Blond and Super Bowl champion and former head coach of the New England Patriots Jerod Mayo. Born into three generations of orthotics and prosthetics clinicians, Hike Co-founder and CEO Aadi Bhanti had a courtside view of how cumbersome the process of ordering and delivering a custom insole really was. Every year, tens of millions of Americans spend approximately $100 billion on devices that aid in independence and healthy living, including diabetic inserts, braces, prosthetic limbs, wheelchairs and cranial helmets. But according to Hike research, 60 cents of every dollar is lost to waste, remakes, and fraud, leading to an excess of paperwork and dense payer requirements to get people the care they need. It's easier, in practice, to prescribe opioids than to order a diabetic patient a pair of custom insoles. Hike started in the lab, modernizing how custom insoles were made - by a mobile foot scan and 3D printer - greatly reducing wait times from weeks to days and remake rates from 1 in 15 to just 1 in 400. Now, the team aims to fix the other half of the problem, quickly expanding to manage the entire supply chain, starting at the point of referral. Hike's platform connects back-office, point-of-care and device fabrication for O&P, podiatry and DME providers, serving as an all-in-one solution for device-based care, including: * Hike Intelligence - AI agents that process a referral automatically and fight to get it approved and paid, before a doctor ever sees the patient - freeing clinicians to spend that time on patient care instead of paperwork. * Hike Clinical - lets clinicians scan, document and order devices in one workflow at the point of care; a scan from any mobile device is enough to produce a highly accurate custom insole, replacing legacy foam boxes and standalone lidar scanners. * Hike Lab - manufactures custom devices in-house at the largest orthotic 3D print farm in the country, based in Peoria, Ill., with turnaround in about five business days. "Patients shouldn't have to wait weeks for a device because the systems behind their care don't talk to each other," said Bhanti. "Being part of a family that's touched this industry for three generations means we have a duty to make it better. We've proven this model in custom foot orthotics, making the process faster, more accurate and built around the patient instead of the paperwork. Now we're taking it across the rest of device-based care. At the end of the day, we're engineering human movement." Hike also strengthened its leadership team ahead of the round, hiring industry veteran Jerry Tang as chief operating officer this year. Tang was employee number 30 at Flexport, where he rose to SVP of Global Operations overseeing logistics, as the company grew from a $100 million to an $8 billion valuation. He then served as COO at Dandy, the digital dental lab, joining at its Series A and helping take the company to unicorn status. The new investment will build on that momentum, funding hiring across engineering and sales roles in San Francisco and manufacturing in Peoria, as Hike expands the platform beyond insoles to serve the broader DME market. "The next generation of category-defining companies won't just build software on top of broken industries. They'll own the entire value chain, end to end, like Hike does," said Max Altman, co-founder and managing partner at Saga Ventures. "Full vertical integration is what it takes to recreate a business at scale in healthcare. We're backing Hike to do this across the entire device market. Aadi and the team have the ability to own the entire category." About Hike Medical Hike Medical exists to help people access the device-based care they need to keep moving. The company manages the durable medical equipment (DME) supply chain from referral to dispense, connecting AI-powered back-office automation, point-of-care clinical tools and in-house manufacturing in one system. Hike's technology results in shorter wait times, lower remake rates and more personal care. Based in San Francisco with manufacturing in Peoria, Ill., Hike is engineering human movement. For more information, visit hikemedical.com. Hike Medical. Release Versions

San Francisco-based Hike Medical has raised $22.5 million in Series A funding. The company provides software-as-a-service solutions for durable medical equipment manufacturers. CEO Aadi Bhanti says the startup plans to raise between $50 million and $75 million in Series B funding by the end of the year.