Tej Seelamsetty dislocated his shoulder in 2024.
The 29-year-old told Business Insider that he waited over an hour on the phone to book an appointment with an orthopedist, and then two weeks for insurance to approve his MRI scheduling.
Frustrated with the pace of the healthcare system, Seelamsetty cofounded the AI agents startup Tivara with Aumesh Misra. The company promises to answer patient phone calls, handle scheduling and refills — and cut down the hours of grunt work that comes with a medical visit.
Tivara has raised a $3.6 million seed round, backed by Plaid CEO Zach Perret’s Mischief VC, Day One Ventures, Y Combinator, and healthcare industry angel investors.
Before cofounding Tivara, Seelamsetty worked as head of growth for Fair Square, a technology-enabled Medicare brokerage.
“I saw a ton of back-and-forth between beneficiaries and insurance carriers,” he said. “There’s just a ton of paper-pushing.”
Seelamsetty met his cofounder while studying computer science at Washington University in St. Louis. The duo called “every single doctor we knew” and asked to shadow their practices, he said.
Tivara focuses on large specialty medical groups with between 20 and 500 doctors. Its customers include the Los Angeles Cancer Network and Astera Customer Care.
It’s one of many AI-assisted patient messaging startups. Seelamsetty said Tivara distinguishes itself by being administrative, not clinical. Doctors are left to sift through the these startups in an effort to identify which offer genuine productivity gains (and which could overcomplicate or add time).
Tivara now has five full-time employees and is using the funds to expand its team. The $3.6 million was over Seelamsetty’s target, he said; they wanted to make room for more strategic investors.