The small startup aiming to solve the biggest problem in digital health
OpenAI recently acquired Torch, a health-tech startup known for building a “unified medical memory” that brings fragmented patient data into a single, AI-friendly context.
The acquisition, reported to be around $60 million, signals a strategic step for OpenAI in advancing its ChatGPT Health offering, which helps users navigate complex medical records through conversational AI.
Torch, founded in 2024 by CEO and co-founder Ilya Abyzov alongside Eugene Huang and a small team including physicians James Hamlin and Ryan Oman, built technology designed to organize a patient’s medical records – labs, prescriptions, visit notes, and even wearable and genetic test data – into a unified platform accessible by large language models (LLMs).
This “medical memory” is meant to serve as a foundation to better understand and personalize health interactions.
The startup’s story is tied to Abyzov’s earlier venture, Forward, a direct-to-consumer primary care company that used tech-enabled clinics called “CarePods.” Forward raised hundreds of millions but abruptly shut down operations in late 2024.
Torch emerged soon after as a leaner, more focused attempt to tackle one of the hardest challenges in digital healthcare, especially when it comes to integrating complex, siloed data.
The emerging opportunity in AI and healthcare
Health data is notoriously siloed across hospitals, pharmacies, labs, and consumer devices. Patients often struggle to gather their full medical history in one place, making personalized care difficult. For many, missing or disjointed context can lead to incomplete or unsafe advice.
This makes it easier for AI tools, like Torch or ChatGPT Health, to understand a patient’s history and give more relevant, personalised support.
Bringing Torch’s small but highly specialized team onboard accelerates OpenAI’s healthcare ambitions, and perhaps more importantly, its ability to meet regulatory, technical, and user experience challenges in this tightly regulated space.
Health data privacy and compliance with laws like HIPAA remains paramount, requiring cautious product design.
The acquisition also serves as a reflection on the wider health-tech ecosystem where specialist startups solving vertical challenges – notably around data connectivity and integration – are increasingly being snapped up by AI leaders.
At the end of the day, the result is the creation of an environment of intense competition but also exciting partnership, API integration, and acquisition opportunities.
