Apella Raises $80 Million to Transform the Hospital with Ambient AI and Computer Vision

The company has supported 500,000 surgical cases to date; strategic investment will fuel expansion to new health systems

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 08, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Apella, a health technology company, today announced it raised $80 million in Series B equity and venture debt. The round was led by HighlandX, with returning investors Vensana Capital, Casdin Capital, PFM Health Sciences, Upside Partnership, and Operator Partners, and includes new investors K2 HealthVentures, OpAmp Capital, and Houston Methodist.

“Ambient AI is transforming healthcare,” said David Schummers, Co-Founder and CEO of Apella. “We have applied this technology to the most critical part of the health system: the operating room. Our customers have expanded beyond the pilot phase, bringing Apella’s product suite to enterprise scale. In doing so, health systems are unlocking additional capacity to serve more patients, faster.”

Apella provides hospitals with a comprehensive platform for operating room management. Using computer vision and machine learning to automatically collect and identify up to 14 surgical case events and autonomously write novel data back to the electronic health record, Apella ensures healthcare professionals can focus on serving more patients and still go home on time. Apella’s partners include leading systems like Houston Methodist, Tampa General Hospital, and the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). On average, hospitals that use Apella have experienced a 5% increase in surgical volume.

“The depth at which hospital staff are adopting Apella and incorporating it in their everyday workflows is exciting,” said Corey Mulloy of HighlandX, who has joined Apella’s Board of Directors. “Health technology — even when it delivers hard ROI — rarely becomes such an integral part of providers’ day-to-day or a problem-solver for health systems.”

Houston Methodist also joined the Series B funding round. The nine-hospital system deployed Apella’s technology in over 200 operating rooms. “We saw the technology’s impact on our clinical and operation systems during our initial 36-room pilot and have now scaled the technology enterprise-wide,” said Roberta Schwartz, Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer at Houston Methodist.

This announcement comes amid significant momentum for the company. Apella recently expanded its solution with Horizon, providing hospitals the most accurate case duration data and utilization predictions to optimize case scheduling and maximize resource capacity before the day begins. Additionally, the company’s technology is now being used across the procedural areas of the hospital, including interventional radiology, cardiology, and endoscopy. Apella was named to Fast Company’s list of the Most Innovative Companies of 2025 in the healthcare category.

About Apella
Apella has developed an ambient video intelligence platform providing busy hospitals with real-time operational intelligence to eliminate delays, distractions, and inefficiencies throughout the day. Apella uses ambient AI, integrated with EHR data, to automate and optimize coordination, scheduling, and staffing so surgical teams have additional capacity to provide better, safer care to more patients. Learn how leading health systems have transformed their ORs at apella.io.

Press Contact:
apella@crosscutstrategies.com

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