The archive · Health & Care · Product decision · 2024
Carecode's AI-agent bet: replace healthcare call centers; a16z, QED back $4.3M pre-seed
AI agents on WhatsApp handle scheduling, confirmations and no-show refills for Brazilian healthcare; a16z and QED back $4.3M pre-seed.
Carecode
What the business is
Carecode builds AI agents that run the work around medical appointments — scheduling, confirmations, refilling canceled slots — over WhatsApp in text and audio, so Brazilian healthcare providers can shrink call-center staffing.
Starting capital：US$4.3M pre-seed (R$26M) led by a16z and QED, with Endeavor Catalyst, KDX Ventures, K50 Ventures, Latitud Ventures and angels including Nubank founder David Vélez
How it started
Founded in 2024 by Thomaz Srougi, creator and chairman of Dr. Consulta (which raised about $168M), and Pedro Magalhães, former CTO at BEES Bank Brasil and Zé Delivery. Srougi argues the care around an appointment matters as much as the medical encounter; a16z partner Gabriel Vasquez helped mature the idea and move it from planning to execution.
What happened
Carecode came out of stealth in December 2024 with a $4.3M pre-seed mostly funded by a16z and QED, joined by Endeavor Catalyst, KDX Ventures, K50 Ventures, Latitud Ventures and angels including David Vélez. Early results with one unnamed partner suggested the agents could do most of a typical healthcare call center's work for a fraction of the cost, proactively filling canceled slots while human staff handle complex cases. Srougi said healthcare companies in Brazil spend about 50% of revenue on contact centers and administrative payroll — some $100 billion a year.
No ending yet — it is still running.
Background
Carecode is a Brazilian startup founded in 2024 by Thomaz Srougi, creator and chairman of Dr. Consulta — a private healthcare network that raised about $168M — and Pedro Magalhães, a former CTO at BEES Bank Brasil and Zé Delivery. Its bet is that the administrative work around a medical appointment matters as much as the appointment itself: scheduling, confirmations and filling slots left by no-shows, work normally done by a call center.
The company came out of stealth in December 2024 with a $4.3M pre-seed (R$26M) mostly funded by a16z and QED, with Endeavor Catalyst, KDX Ventures, K50 Ventures, Latitud Ventures and angels including Nubank founder David Vélez. Its agents run over WhatsApp in text and audio, a deliberate choice because older and lower-income users in Brazil prefer sending voice notes to typing.
Early tests with one unnamed partner suggested the AI agents could handle most of a typical healthcare call center's workload for a fraction of the cost, even proactively refilling canceled appointment slots while employees handle complex cases. Srougi estimated Brazilian healthcare companies spend about 50% of revenue on contact centers and administrative payroll — some $100 billion a year — and argued that going vertical in healthcare, rather than building horizontal AI support, is what creates a moat.
What has to be true
- Srougi's decade running Dr. Consulta gave him firsthand knowledge of where healthcare money leaks: the moments around the appointment, not the medical encounter itself.
- a16z and QED bet on a vertical agent that understands healthcare's specific workflows instead of a generalist chatbot, which they argued delivers subpar results.
- Meeting users on WhatsApp, including voice notes, removes the adoption barrier for a population that already runs its daily life inside the app.
- The cost target is unusually visible: providers can measure call-center and administrative payroll directly, so the ROI case is easy to state.
- Founder track record mattered in a cold funding environment — top VCs backed the pre-seed largely on Srougi's history and the a16z partner who helped shape the idea.
What can be applied
Domain pain plus a decade of credibility let a pre-seed AI startup win top VCs: go vertical, meet users on the channel they already use, and attack a cost line providers can feel.
Aftermath
As of December 30, 2024, Carecode had just emerged from stealth with early results from one unnamed partner suggesting its agents could do most of a healthcare call center's work for a fraction of the cost. It had not disclosed revenue, named customers or a go-to-market timeline, and planned to keep the vertical focus on healthcare before possibly expanding into insurance, payments and financing. The startup's bet — that AI agents can replace the administrative layer around Brazilian medical care — was still in its earliest validation phase.
Sources
- Backed by a16z and QED, Brazilian startup Carecode puts AI agents to work on healthcare
- Carecode, de ex-dr.consulta, traz agentes de IA para facilitar atendimento na saúde
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