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Piction Health, which started as a mobile app that uses AI to recognize skin conditions from pictures, just raised $6 million in seed funding to build out its virtual dermatology clinic.
The idea is to make dermatology care more accessible and cut down on wait times, which can average over a month for a new appointment, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. A dermatologist assigns a diagnosis and treatment plan to patients within 48 hours after they upload pictures of their skin condition onto Piction’s platform. Patients can also chat with nurses and get prescriptions for their conditions. The platform charges $119 per visit for new patients and takes insurance such as Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare and Anthem.
Piction’s photo recognition system draws on a database of over 750,000 photos the startup has built over the last four years in partnership with over 200 dermatologists in 20 countries. The database includes different skin conditions on various body parts across age groups and skin tones. It’s a big leap from the startup’s origins as a single app that recognized melanoma from images.
“We realized that we could grow a lot faster and help a lot more patients if we basically delivered our own care and became providers,” said co-founder and CEO Susan Conover, who built Piction after she was told she had to wait three months to see a dermatologist for a mole that turned out to be cancerous.
Investors in the seed round included Flare Capital, Techstars, Argon Ventures and Good Growth. Investors are bullish on matching patients with the right providers when it comes to virtual care, Conover said. The company currently employs over 10 dermatologists who work for Piction while other providers are contractors.
The large database that powers the AI behind Piction was also a huge draw to investors, especially as there’s been a limited supply of providers such as dermatologists.
Piction started seeing patients last year and serves patients on health insurance plans in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Florida. The plan is to expand the virtual clinic to more states and fill in for the physician shortage, Conover said.