SpendRule Emerges From Stealth With $2M to Track Hospital Spending
▼ Summary
– SpendRule is an AI-powered platform that helps healthcare systems track spending and ensure they only pay what was negotiated in their contracts.
– The company was founded by Chris Heckler and Joseph Akintolayo, who combined their respective connections and AI/supply chain expertise after their non-compete periods ended.
– It specifically targets complex, non-barcoded purchases like maintenance and translation services, where overspending is common, by validating invoices before payment.
– SpendRule emerged from stealth with $2 million in funding and is already being used by major health systems like Kettering Health and MemorialCare.
– The company positions itself as a competitor to traditional invoice auditors and aims to build more resilient hospital systems by protecting their financial bottom line.
After a period of entrepreneurial reflection, Chris Heckler and Joseph Akintolayo have partnered to launch SpendRule, a new AI-driven platform designed to help hospitals control their operational spending. The company recently announced its emergence from stealth mode alongside a $2 million seed funding round. This financial backing was led by Abundant Venture Partners, with additional participation from MemorialCare Innovation Fund and Zeal Capital Partners. The investment will fuel hiring efforts and further development of the company’s core artificial intelligence technology.
The genesis of SpendRule came during a transitional phase for both founders. Heckler, having sold a previous healthcare startup, found himself at the end of a five-year non-compete agreement and eager to return to building a company. Concurrently, Akintolayo, who had just sold his own fintech venture, was exploring new ideas. Their complementary skills, Heckler’s deep industry connections and Akintolayo’s expertise in AI and supply chain logistics, made for a natural partnership aimed at tackling a persistent problem in healthcare administration.
The core issue SpendRule addresses is inefficient spending on non-traditional purchases. In hospital systems, items with barcodes are typically managed through a standardized three-way match process linking purchases to invoices. However, a significant portion of hospital spending involves services and contracts that lack such clear identifiers. These can include maintenance, janitorial work, translation services, and laundry. Managing these purchases is often complex and manual, leading to frequent overpayments when invoices exceed negotiated contract rates.
SpendRule’s platform integrates directly with a hospital’s existing enterprise software, including its ERP, contract management, and accounts payable systems. It operates by aggregating and analyzing data from contracts, invoices, internal databases, and vendor information. This allows the AI to validate invoices automatically before any payment is authorized. The system flags discrepancies for review, clearly indicating which invoices should be paid and which require further investigation. This automation replaces a traditionally tedious process where hospitals would either conduct manual reviews of every invoice or hire external auditors every couple of years.
The company has already secured several notable healthcare systems as early customers, including Kettering Health, MemorialCare, and MUSC Health. This early traction helped the founders secure their seed funding remarkably quickly after founding the company in the summer; the round was closed by Halloween. Heckler credits his established network within the healthcare industry for enabling a smooth and efficient fundraising process.
In terms of competition, the founders view established invoice auditing firms like SpendMend and GHX as their primary market rivals. However, Akintolayo emphasizes that SpendRule’s distinct focus is on the “purchase services” category, those barcode-less expenses that are notoriously difficult to track. The overarching mission is to build more financially resilient hospitals. By connecting disparate data sources and providing actionable insights, the platform aims to protect hospital bottom lines and empower better, data-driven financial decisions across the healthcare sector.
(Source: TechCrunch)
