According to GeekWire, a new Seattle healthcare startup named Casera has spun out of startup studio Pioneer Square Labs with $1 million in funding and fewer than ten employees. Founded by CEO Neeraj Singh Bhavani (previously of Tagnos) and CTO Alex Levin (previously of MD Clarity), the company is building “agentic AI” software designed to automate the workflow of hospital case managers. The system plugs into existing communication tools to identify and trigger next steps, like following up on a pending insurance authorization. Casera is currently working with design partners at major health systems in three states but has not yet generated revenue. The company sees its main competition as established patient-flow vendors like Qventus, LeanTaaS, and TeleTracking.
The Digital Nag Problem
Here’s the thing about hospitals: the actual medicine is often the easy part. The hard part is the insane, byzantine operational ballet required to get a patient from admission to discharge. You’ve got doctors, nurses, case managers, social workers, insurance companies, and pharmacies all needing to coordinate, and a single missed communication can strand a patient for an extra, costly day. Casera’s bet is that what’s needed isn’t another dashboard showing you the problem, but an autonomous digital agent that just… handles it. Think of it as a nag, but a productive one. It’s watching the chat threads and EHR notes, and when it sees a prior auth is pending, it pings the right person. When a complex discharge needs five tasks assigned, it makes sure each one has an owner and a due date. That’s the “agentic” promise: moving from insight to action.
Founder Advantage or Recycled Playbook?
Now, the founders have a clear track record in this space. Bhavani already built and sold a patient-flow company. Levin built and sold a revenue intelligence company. That gives them instant credibility with investors like PSL, who explicitly called out their “recently-exited” status as a “huge bonus.” But it also raises a question: is this a genuinely novel approach, or just applying a fresh coat of AI paint to a well-understood problem? Bhavani’s argument is that legacy players are about telling you what to do, while Casera is about getting it done. That’s a compelling distinction if they can pull it off. The real test will be whether their AI agents can navigate the nuanced, relationship-driven world of a hospital floor without becoming a source of friction themselves. Automating bureaucracy sounds great until the algorithm annoys the head nurse.
The Revenue Road Ahead
So they have design partners and a cool idea. The next mountain is revenue, and that’s a steep climb in healthcare. Selling to large health systems is famously slow, expensive, and fraught with compliance hurdles. They’re going up against entrenched incumbents with deep sales relationships. Their early “no revenue” status isn’t a red flag for a fresh spinout, but it’s the clock that’s now ticking. Their success hinges on proving their software doesn’t just create tasks, but actually measurably reduces the length of stay. If they can show a hospital CFO they’re shaving even half a day off an average stay, the ROI becomes a no-brainer. But that’s a big “if” that requires flawless execution in a messy, human-centric environment. Basically, the tech has to work invisibly and perfectly, which is the hardest kind of tech to build.
