Kintsugi, a Bay Area startup developing voice biomarker technology to detect signs of depression and anxiety from short clips of speech, has been named a 2022 Gartner Cool Vendor in AI Governance and Responsible AI – an annual award recognizing startups that are innovative, impactful, and intriguing.
Kintsugi is developing machine learning algorithms that analyze short clips of free-form speech for vocal features that correlate with clinical depression and anxiety. Their API platform Kintsugi Voice provides clinical decision support to healthcare practitioners, by scoring patients’ mental health in real time. The tool integrates seamlessly with clinical call centers, telehealth platforms, and remote patient monitoring apps.
The Gartner report highlights that Kintsugi Voice does not rely on question and answer methods to assess a user’s mental health, nor is it based on natural language processing, because it analyzes how people speak, not the content of their speech. That furthermore allows them to operate in any language.
The machine learning model is based on the largest dataset in the world for voice biomarkers and mental health. It is collected from Kintsugi’s award-winning consumer wellness app in over 250 international cities and in multiple languages. The startup leverages this uniquely large and continuously evolving global dataset to prevent bias and push for responsible AI in healthcare. Furthermore, it is working to broaden its impact by deploying Kintsugi Voice in different patient populations, via clinical partnerships with a number of hospitals and health organizations.
According to Gartner, companies considered to be Cool Vendors in AI Governance and Responsible AI are those developing tools that assure AI fairness, bias mitigation, explainability, privacy and compliance.
“We are thrilled to be recognized as a Gartner Cool Vendor,” said Grace Chang, Founder and CEO of Kintsugi. “Mental health conditions are on the rise, and are only identified by primary care practitioners 47.3% of the time. We aim to support providers with objective and accurate mental health insights, so that they can ensure that their patients get the care they need.”
Kintsugi recently announced a $20M Series A, bringing the company’s total capital raised to $28M since its inception in 2019. The funding round was led by New York-based global venture capital and private equity firm Insight Partners, and will further Kintsugi’s mission of scaling access to mental healthcare for more of those in need.
This is the latest in a series of accolades for the startup, which was listed in Forbes’ 2022 AI 50 in North America, and received the 2022 Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Technology Innovation Leadership Award.
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