Healthcare workforce shortages continue to challenge providers across the United States, with demand for clinical and support staff expected to outpace supply through the end of the decade. Against this backdrop, healthcare training company Stepful has announced a $55 million Series C financing round to expand its AI-enabled workforce development platform and deepen partnerships with health systems.
The funding round was led by Oak HC/FT and included participation from new investors Foresite, Hearst Ventures and the Citi Impact Fund, alongside existing investors SemperVirens, Y Combinator and Intermountain Health. The latest raise brings Stepful’s total funding to $105 million.
Founded in 2021, Stepful provides accelerated healthcare training programs designed to create more accessible pathways into healthcare careers. The company currently offers programs for medical assistants, pharmacy technicians, medical administrators, practical nurses, dental assistants and surgical technicians, while planning future expansion into nursing and respiratory technology.
According to CEO and co-founder Carl Madi, the company’s approach seeks to reduce both the cost and duration of traditional healthcare education.
"Stepful focuses on training people with a high school education to get access to healthcare jobs. Essentially, we're an AI-powered learning platform, and using technology and using AI, we're able to make that education much more cost effective, so it can be like 10x cheaper and it can be four times shorter for the medical assistant program," Madi said.
Stepful’s model positions employers at the center of the training process, allowing healthcare organizations to recruit, train and upskill workers directly through the company’s platform.
"We're both an academic institution and a technology company. The whole point for us is we're actually centering the education on the employer, so the employer will get to choose who to train, when to train, and then we can give them our technology and our accreditation status to be able to train someone," Madi said.
The company works with more than 35 healthcare systems, including Ochsner Health, Providence Foundation Health Partners, Ohio State University Physicians and Mount Sinai. Since its launch, Stepful reports graduating more than 32,000 healthcare workers.
Its platform combines AI-powered personalized learning, clinical simulations, remote skills assessments and workforce planning tools. High-fidelity avatar-based patient encounters and at-home medical kits enable students to complete portions of their clinical training remotely while receiving real-time feedback.
Stepful also supports workforce development initiatives within health systems. Mount Sinai recently partnered with the company to develop a patient care associate training program focused on electrocardiography, phlebotomy and direct patient care skills.
"This collaboration supports the development of a broader, more sustainable pipeline of ancillary staff from the communities we serve. By investing in these roles, we are reinforcing our care teams today while helping to ensure we are prepared to meet the needs of patients in the future," said Jane Maksoud, RN, Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer of the Mount Sinai Health System.
Commenting on the investment, Oak HC/FT partner Vig Chandramouli said, "Stepful is the only company we have seen that combines online education with a sophisticated AI engine to solve the talent supply problem at scale."
The new funding will support platform development, expanded healthcare system partnerships and the launch of additional advanced training programs.
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