Traditionally, caregivers spend substantial time manually filling out forms and reports, taking away from patient care. This administrative burden in healthcare settings leads to burnout and reduced job satisfaction. Voize addresses this challenge with AI-powered speech recognition technology, enabling care workers to dictate documentation directly into their smartphones.
The AI processes speech, structures content, and automatically generates accurate entries for patient reports, vital signs, and medication logs. This innovation saves caregivers an average of 39 minutes per shift, improves documentation quality, and allows more focus on patient care.
Berlin-based AI startup Voize has raised $9M in seed funding, led by HV Capital and with participation from existing investors Y Combinator, redalpine, and HPI Ventures. The funding will support expanding their technology into hospitals and developing AI for broader industrial applications.
AI-driven voice technology transforms medical documentation
Voize was founded in February 2020 by Fabio Schmidberger, Marcel Schmidberger, and Erik Ziegler, who were then systems engineering students at the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) in Germany. The idea sparked when the Schmidberger brothers’ grandfather moved into a nursing home, revealing the inefficiencies of healthcare documentation.
The founders’ strong technical background in IT systems engineering from HPI equipped them with expertise in advanced software solutions. This knowledge was crucial in developing Voize’s proprietary AI for domain-specific speech recognition, a system that seamlessly integrates with existing electronic health records while solving real-world caregiver challenges.
“Documentation in healthcare is extremely time-consuming. Marcel and I saw this firsthand when our grandfather moved into a nursing home — that’s how the idea for Voize was born,” said Fabio Schmidberger, co-founder and CEO. “Today, we deliver real value in healthcare. Tens of thousands of caregivers now simply dictate their documentation, reclaiming valuable time for care.”
Voize seeks to change healthcare documentation using AI-driven speech recognition, enhancing simplicity and speed. Their main objective is to lessen the administrative load on caregivers, allowing for increased time devoted to patient care. This strategy enhances documentation quality, improves job satisfaction, and alleviates healthcare labor shortages.
The platform’s user-friendly design and adaptability have led to its adoption in over 600 care facilities. A study with Berlin’s Charité University Hospital showed that it reduces caregivers’ documentation time by an average of 39 minutes per shift.
Behind voize: AI for speech recognition
The company has developed proprietary AI speech recognition technology to streamline digital documentation, particularly in healthcare. This allows professionals to dictate rather than manually complete paperwork.
Voize distinguishes itself from competitors like Nuance (Microsoft), MModal (3M), and DeepScribe, primarily serving physicians. Instead, Voize specifically targets caregivers in nursing homes with an easy-to-use mobile app that reduces administrative work. This focus on non-physician healthcare workers distinguishes Voize from competitors’ broader, physician-centric approaches.
Voize’s technology enables caregivers to dictate notes into smartphones. The AI processes and structures this input, automatically generating system documentation, including patient reports, vital signs, and medication logs. The platform also supports care planning with mobile access to historical records, vital signs, wound photos, medication plans, and emergency documentation.
“Voize combines all the elements for a true European technology champion: Meaningful impact with thousands of engaged care workers and patients, a sustainable business case for healthcare providers, proprietary technology and the potential to fight the blue-collar labor shortage in Europe,” said Felix Klühr, General Partner at HV Capital.
Looking ahead, Voize plans to expand into hospitals while exploring applications beyond healthcare, such as inspections, where similar documentation challenges exist. Voize aims to improve workflows and set new documentation standards across industries globally through domain-specific AI solutions.
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