Cancer detection startup beHuman announced Wednesday that it has secured $4 million in seed funding, which it will use to expand its footprint and make cancer screening more accessible to underserved communities.
beHuman offers screenings for hereditary cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, cervical cancer, lung cancer and prostate cancer. Patients schedule an appointment with beHuman online, and then meet with their clinician virtually. The clinician reviews the patient’s health history and tailors the screening plan specifically to the patient. They then receive their screening results and follow-up care if necessary.
Its AI-powered platform automates administrative tasks such as eligibility verification, scheduling, chart review and follow-up. Its services are covered by insurers, including Medicare, Medicaid, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, Humana and Aetna.
“The premise behind beHuman is very simple,” said Steve Yaskin, founder and CEO of the company, in an interview. “We spend, as a nation, more than half of our healthcare budget annually on cancer treatment, and beHuman is not designed to treat cancer. beHuman is designed to prevent cancer before it becomes late-stage.”
The $4 million seed round was led by Santé Ventures, with participation from DHVP.io.
“beHuman is addressing one of healthcare’s most persistent gaps, late cancer detection among populations the system consistently misses,” said Kevin Lalande, founding managing director and chief investment officer at Santé Ventures, in a statement. “The team’s combination of physician leadership, thoughtful AI automation, and focus on trust and access positions them to deliver meaningful impact nationwide.”
The financing will be used to expand into additional states, including California and Texas. beHuman currently operates in Florida, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The company will also deepen partnerships with diagnostic laboratories, improve its AI platform and scale its virtual care teams.
beHuman’s announcement comes as a growing number of people under the age of 50 are being diagnosed with cancer, including colorectal, breast, prostate, uterine, stomach and pancreatic. According to one forecast, cancer for this age group will rise by 30% globally from 2019 to 2030.
Several other companies offer cancer screenings, including Function Health and Prenuvo, though many are direct-to-consumer and target a “smaller, but much more affluent population,” according to Yaskin.
“beHuman is solving the problem of bridging the gap for the much, much larger but harder to reach population that lives in rural areas,” he said. “They don’t have a primary care physician, they are under-educated in what options they have, and we’re trying to make the same level of care available to them. And the second differentiator, I would say, for beHuman is that we are not cash-based. We figured out how to get in network with insurance companies, so we essentially offer the same services that larger competitors do at no cost to consumers.”
While beHuman is starting with cancer, it hopes to expand into other areas in the future, including cardiovascular disease, memory disorders and diabetes, Yaskin said.
Photo: sorbetto, Getty Images
