Healthcare IT · Electronic health records
Akute Health
An automation-first EHR built for cash-pay clinics, direct primary care, med spas and weight-loss practices that do not want a hospital-scale system. Founded in Austin in 2018, backed through Y Combinator, and still a small, self-described seed-stage team.
A diagnosis that became a product spec
Sharud Agarwal did not start out building software for doctors. On Akute’s about page he traces the company back to a single year: “In 2015 I was diagnosed with Leukemia. After months of treatment I realized the processes of healthcare had to improve.”
He spent that time inside the system as a patient, not a vendor, watching scheduling, intake and follow-up work against the people delivering care rather than for them. He brought a decade of software engineering experience to the problem. “With over a decade of experience in software engineering, I built Akute to be simple and intuitive,” he wrote of the decision to start the company in 2018.
The company’s own framing has stayed close to that origin ever since. “Our mission is to simplify care and amplify connection,” the about page reads. It is a modest line for a company operating in a category, electronic health records, where most vendors sell on billing codes and payer contracts rather than mission statements.
The gap: EHRs built for insurance, not for cash
Most electronic health record systems were built around a specific customer: a practice that bills insurance and needs to prove medical necessity for a payer. That requirement shapes everything about legacy EHRs, from ONC certification for meaningful-use incentives to the density of their billing modules.
Akute is aimed at a different practice entirely. Its customers page lists direct primary care, wellness and integrative medicine, med spa and aesthetics, concierge medicine, digital health, and GLP-1 and weight-loss clinics, all businesses that typically charge patients directly rather than billing insurance. “Akute isn’t just an EHR, it’s your co-pilot for launching and growing a modern, patient-focused care practice,” the homepage states. The pitch is speed and simplicity over the compliance machinery a hospital system needs, at $300 a month for a single clinician with up to 100 patients, scaling to $550 a month for a two-clinician, 300-patient practice.
One founder, a small team, a YC check
Akute has stayed lean. Its own Y Combinator company page describes it as “a VC-backed company in its seed stage,” and adds a line that doubles as a hiring pitch: “In a space of legacy tech, our team and platform’s agility and exceptional customer support makes us stand out.”
Third-party trackers place Akute’s funding history in 2021, roughly three years after founding. PitchBook records an Accelerator/Incubator deal on February 1, 2021, an Early Stage VC deal on July 16, 2021, and a second Accelerator/Incubator deal, tied to Y Combinator, for $125,000 on August 31, 2021, none of the first two with a disclosed amount. Its investor list names Y Combinator, Pareto Holdings, Right Side Capital Management, StartUp Health and The Finger Group, five backers typical of a pre-seed healthtech stack rather than a company that has closed a large priced round. LinkedIn still lists Akute at 2 to 10 employees and 858 followers.
Integrations instead of announcements
What growth Akute has shown publicly comes through partnership posts rather than press coverage. In November 2024 it announced a strategic partnership with Thea Health, an eConsult platform, under terms that gave “around 100 providers across the country who rely on Akute Health’s electronic medical record software” instant workflow access to specialist eConsults. Thea Health’s CEO, Harry Cooke, called it a step toward “a world where physicians are empowered rather than hindered by the software that they use.”
On LinkedIn, other companies describe integrating with Akute on their own terms: a patient-engagement platform called Guava lists Akute alongside Hint Health, Elation Health and Spruce Health as EHR partners; a staffing company, Snapscale, describes running virtual assistants inside client Akute accounts; a scheduling tool, Recupra, announced a direct integration. One identifiable customer, Welcome Health, a direct primary care practice in Augusta, Georgia run by Dr. Rob Lamberts, appears in an Akute-published post about merging practices and in independent local coverage of Lamberts and Welcome Health, which confirms the practice is real even though it does not confirm the EHR relationship independently.
What is proven, and what is still claimed
| Evidence | What the record shows | Source type |
|---|---|---|
| Founding year | Company and PitchBook both give 2018. Tracxn gives 2017 for the same company and founder, a one-year discrepancy the trackers do not resolve. | Differs across sources |
| Y Combinator funding | PitchBook records a $125,000 Accelerator/Incubator deal closed August 31, 2021, the only dollar amount disclosed anywhere in the public record. | Independent |
| Other 2021 funding events | PitchBook lists a February 1, 2021 accelerator deal and a July 16, 2021 Early Stage VC deal, both with no amount disclosed. | Independent |
| SEC Form D | SEC EDGAR full text search and the EDGAR company search return zero filings for “Akute Health” or “Akute” of any kind, including Form D. | Public record |
| FDA, NIH, NSF, clinical trials | No FDA 510(k) or PMA record, no NIH award, no registered trial. NSF records pulled for this profile all belong to unrelated university medical centers, not this company. | Not found |
| ONC Health IT certification | No CHPL listing was confirmed during this research; the certified product list requires an API key that was not available. Cash-pay DPC and med spa clients generally do not need ONC-certified technology since they do not bill Medicare or Medicaid meaningful-use incentives, so the absence may reflect the market Akute serves rather than a missed step. | Not verified |
| E-prescribing and EPCS | Akute’s own help documentation routes controlled-substance prescribing through DoseSpot, described as “Akute's primary Surescripts partner,” with identity proofing through Experian and two-factor authentication through Duo Mobile. Akute is not itself named as Surescripts- or EPCS-certified; the certified party appears to be its vendor. | Company-stated |
| Named customer | Welcome Health, a direct primary care practice in Augusta, Georgia led by Dr. Rob Lamberts, appears in Akute’s own case-study material and separately in local business press covering Lamberts and Welcome Health, though that coverage does not itself mention Akute. | Independent, partial |
| Thea Health partnership | A joint release states about 100 providers used Akute’s EMR as of November 2024, gaining workflow access to Thea Health’s eConsult network. | Company and partner |
Read plainly: Akute is a real, small, working product with paying clinics and live third-party integrations, but almost nothing about its finances is independently confirmed. One dollar figure exists in the public record, $125,000 from Y Combinator, and even that comes from a data aggregator rather than a regulatory filing. No Form D has ever been filed under the company’s name.
What to watch
- Whether Akute ever files a Form D with the SEC, which would put a real number on any round beyond the YC check.
- Growth in named customers and integration partners beyond Welcome Health, Thea Health, Guava, Snapscale and Recupra.
- Whether Akute pursues ONC Health IT certification as it moves into digital health and specialty-care segments that may need to bill insurance.
- Headcount growth beyond the 2 to 10 employees LinkedIn currently lists.
In their words
“In 2015 I was diagnosed with Leukemia. After months of treatment I realized the processes of healthcare had to improve.”
Sharud Agarwal, Founder and CEO, Akute Health about page · Company-stated
“With over a decade of experience in software engineering, I built Akute to be simple and intuitive.”
Sharud Agarwal, Akute Health about page · Company-stated
“Our mission is to simplify care and amplify connection.”
Akute Health about page · Company-stated
“Akute isn’t just an EHR, it’s your co-pilot for launching and growing a modern, patient-focused care practice.”
Akute Health homepage · Company-stated
“In a space of legacy tech, our team and platform’s agility and exceptional customer support makes us stand out.”
Akute Health company page, Y Combinator · Company-stated
“This is going to be great, bridging the gap between specialty and primary care allows for a much more seamless patient experience and improved outcomes.”
Sharud Agarwal, on the Thea Health partnership, November 2024 · Company release
“This partnership is an important step towards Akute and Thea’s shared goal of a world where physicians are empowered rather than hindered by the software that they use.”
Harry Cooke, CEO, Thea Health, November 2024 · Partner-stated
Related companies
Sources
- CompanyAbout Us: Our Mission & Team
- CompanyAkute Health homepage and pricing
- CompanyCustomers We Serve
- CompanyEPCS (Controlled Substances) Setup & Guide
- Company and partnerAkute Health and Thea Health Partner to Increase Access to Specialty Care for Primary Care Providers
- IndependentAkute Health company page
- IndependentAkuteHealth company profile, valuation and investors
- IndependentAkuteHealth company profile, funding and founders
- IndependentAkute Health profile, jobs and funding
- IndependentAkute Health company page, updates and partner posts
- IndependentABD Expo Preview: Dr. Rob Lamberts, Welcome Health
- Public recordFull text search for “Akute Health,” zero results
- Public recordCompany search for “akute,” Form D filter, zero results
Profile researched and written by Healthcare Discovery. Last updated September 29, 2026.
