Apella Secures $80 Million Series B Led by HighlandX with Participation from Houston Methodist

Apella has announced the close of an $80 million Series B financing round, combining equity and venture debt, to accelerate the expansion of its ambient AI platform across hospital systems. The round was led by HighlandX, with participation from returning investors Vensana Capital, Casdin Capital, PFM Health Sciences, Upside Partnership, and Operator Partners, alongside new investors K2 HealthVentures, OpAmp Capital, and Houston Methodist.

The company focuses on applying ambient AI and computer vision to operating room management, an area of persistent operational complexity for hospitals. Apella has supported more than 500,000 surgical cases to date, using machine learning to automatically capture and classify up to 14 surgical case events and write structured data back into electronic health records. This automation is intended to reduce manual documentation and coordination burdens for clinical teams.

“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 reports that hospitals using its platform have achieved an average 5% increase in surgical volume. The company counts health systems such as Houston Methodist, Tampa General Hospital, and the Medical University of South Carolina among its partners. According to the company, adoption has extended beyond initial pilots, with customers integrating the platform into daily workflows.

“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, a nine-hospital system, has deployed Apella’s technology in more than 200 operating rooms and also participated as an investor in the round. “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.

The funding follows recent product expansion, including the launch of Horizon, which provides case duration data and utilization predictions to support surgical scheduling. Apella has also extended its technology into interventional radiology, cardiology, and endoscopy, reflecting a broader strategy to support procedural operations across the hospital.

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