OpenEvidence, which is building “ChatGPT for doctors”, raised $250M led by Thrive and DST at a $12B valuation, up from $6B in October and $1B in February 2025
A startup widely known as “ChatGPT for doctors” raised a new funding round that values the company at $12 billion.
Context & Ripple Effects
OpenEvidence’s latest round completes a rapid financing arc: its first outside round was a $75M Sequoia-led financing at a $1B valuation in February 2025, followed by a $200M round at $6B in October.
The new valuation also confirms the level reported in December, when the company was said to be targeting $12B while operating an ad-supported chatbot for medical professionals. That trajectory makes the round a notable test of investor appetite for clinician-facing AI products with reported user reach and advertising revenue.
First-order effects
- OpenEvidence receives $250M of additional capital from Thrive and DST, while its valuation doubles from the October financing level to $12B.
- The round strengthens OpenEvidence’s position with investors and commercial partners after its reported expansion from a $1B valuation in February 2025.
Second-order effects
- Other AI products aimed at doctors face a higher financing benchmark: they will need to show either comparable clinician adoption or a credible commercial model as OpenEvidence’s ad-supported approach attracts major capital.
- For Thrive and DST, the deal concentrates their exposure to a company whose valuation had already been reported as targeting $12B, increasing the importance of execution against that implied growth expectation.
Third-order effects
- If clinician-facing AI services continue to command sharply rising valuations, the market may consolidate around platforms that combine professional distribution with repeatable monetization rather than stand-alone medical-search features.
- The pattern points to a broader separation between AI health products that can demonstrate sustained professional use and those still competing primarily on model capability; whether that persists depends on adoption and revenue holding up after funding.
The trend: Specialized AI assistants are increasingly being valued on their ability to secure professional distribution and monetization, not simply on their underlying model technology.