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From Hospital Cafeteria to $44M in Funding: How Savana Built a New Category in Healthcare Intelligence
In 2014, neurologist Ignacio Medrano found himself in his hospital’s cafeteria, explaining a radical idea to skeptical colleagues. “I discover this thing that is called machine learning, which is so incredible,” he told them. “It means that computers, they don’t learn by rules, but they learn by cases, they learn by examples.”
His colleagues’ response? “Yeah, that’s cool stuff, but it’s never going to work.”
Ten years later, Savana has raised $44 million and is transforming how healthcare providers use their data. But the path from that cafeteria conversation to successful scale-up reveals crucial lessons about bringing innovative technology to regulated markets.
The First Product Failed Because It Fought Medical Culture
Savana’s initial product seemed logical: aggregate treatment decisions across many doctors to help guide medical choices. The assumption was that the wisdom of crowds would improve patient care. They were wrong.
“The fact that the majority is doing something doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do,” Ignacio explains. “And that’s quite opposite to what Evidence means. Evidence means this is the right thing, no matter if few people or a lot of people are doing it.”
The team killed the product entirely. This early failure taught them a crucial lesson: technical capability isn’t enough if your solution fights against deeply embedded professional culture.
Finding Revenue When Your Market Isn’t Ready
After developing their core natural language processing technology for medical records, Savana faced another challenge: hospitals weren’t ready to buy.
“We found that it was no one’s job to use this kind of tool. And of course the budgets were not big, especially in Europe where we started, so we had to pivot very quickly,” Ignacio recalls.
Rather than wait for hospitals to catch up, they found an alternative buyer: pharmaceutical companies. These organizations had immediate needs and budgets for understanding patient outcomes. This pivot kept Savana alive for five years while waiting for their primary market to mature.
The COVID Catalyst
Sometimes market evolution requires a catalyst. For Savana, it was the COVID-19 pandemic. “After the COVID situation, Europe basically realizes that our level of data intelligence is embarrassing and very low compared to the US but also compared to the Eastern countries,” Ignacio notes.
This crisis transformed attitudes toward healthcare data sharing. The European Health Data Space emerged, creating a framework for data sharing among institutions. More importantly, it sparked a cultural shift: “Sharing clinical data is seen as a good thing, is something that a good European would do.”
Rethinking Traditional ROI in Healthcare
For B2B founders entering healthcare, Savana’s experience highlights a crucial insight: traditional market efficiency metrics often don’t apply.
“The amount of decisions that simply don’t make sense from the financial perspective is huge,” Ignacio explains. “A typical case would be you optimize something with which you need, I don’t know, 10 nurses less. And it doesn’t really matter because politically it’s against everything not to count on 10 nurses.”
This reality requires founders to think differently about value propositions and sales strategies. Pure efficiency gains aren’t enough – solutions must align with healthcare’s complex social and political considerations.
Looking Ahead
Today, Savana’s technology is powering initiatives like helping the COPD Foundation identify undiagnosed patients through AI algorithms. Looking ahead, Ignacio envisions a future where AI becomes a trusted gateway to healthcare, with “personalized algorithms on digital that people are going to use on a normal basis.”
For B2B founders, Savana’s journey offers valuable lessons about patience, pivots, and the importance of understanding market dynamics beyond pure business efficiency. Sometimes the path to category creation requires waiting for the market to catch up to your vision – and being ready when it does.
Actionable
Takeaways
Find revenue where barriers are lowest:
When Savana discovered hospitals weren't ready for their solution, they pivoted to pharmaceutical companies who had immediate needs and budgets. This kept them alive until the market matured. B2B founders should identify alternative buyers who can provide early revenue while waiting for their primary market to develop.
Regulatory challenges can create opportunities:
Savana turned Europe's strict data privacy regulations into an advantage by developing compliant solutions that could scale as regulations evolved. B2B founders should view regulatory constraints as potential differentiators rather than just obstacles.
Crisis can accelerate market readiness:
COVID-19 transformed European attitudes toward healthcare data sharing, creating new opportunities. B2B founders should stay prepared for external events that can suddenly accelerate market adoption of their solution.
Product-market fit requires cultural alignment:
Savana's initial doctor-focused tool failed because it conflicted with medical culture around evidence-based decision-making. B2B founders must deeply understand not just customer needs, but also their professional values and decision-making frameworks.
Healthcare requires different ROI calculations:
Traditional market efficiency metrics often don't apply in healthcare due to political and social considerations. B2B founders entering healthcare must account for non-financial factors in their value proposition and sales strategy.
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