Durham firm launches with $4M to bring AI to hospitals

The thesis here is, if Kaiser (Permanente) does something that saves lives in California, why shouldn't every health system be able to use that?

Vega Health launched with $4 million in seed funding from Bessemer Venture Partners to help healthcare systems access and implement AI tools. Founded by Mark Sendak after years at Duke's Institute for Health Innovation, the Durham-based startup offers a curated marketplace of AI solutions, installs platforms behind hospital firewalls to run models, monitors AI performance, and helps commercialize internal innovations. The company has launched with about a dozen AI solutions from Duke, including emergency department triage and prior authorization tools, targeting community hospital systems that lack extensive AI research capabilities.