New startup ideas · Health and bio · Healthcare and bio

startup idea

Retrieva

A licensed records network with couriers for the charts no API can reach.

Retrieva is a records retrieval API for health plans, pharma safety teams and large provider groups that need complete patient charts, not the subset that sits in an EHR interface.

Infrastructure and APIs
Enterprise
$100B+ market
Creates a new category
US first

4/5

venture judge

similar startups, last 2 years (23 all-time)

96%

of 3 nearest real companies still alive

yes

8 matching federal grants and programs

Direction supported by government programs and grants

Test it before you build it

$3,300 · 6 weeks · 20 prospects

For $3,300 in 6 weeks, prove that Medicare Advantage risk adjustment teams lose enough charts to failed retrieval that they will sign and prepay a premium-priced second-pass pilot with couriers included.

Riskiest assumption · Mid-size Medicare Advantage plans have enough charts their current retrieval vendors fail to return, and feel the lost risk-adjustment revenue sharply enough, that the VP of risk adjustment will pay a premium per chart and prepay a second-pass, courier-backed pilot.

1Focus group: who and where

VP or director of risk adjustment at a Medicare Advantage plan with 20,000-200,000 members, mid chart chase this fall, holding a vendor report that lists hundreds of charts returned as unretrievable ahead of submission and RADV audit deadlines.

where to find 20 · RISE Association events, above all RISE West, the fall conference where risk adjustment VPs concentrate; the CMS monthly Medicare Advantage enrollment files, a free public directory naming every plan and its size, used to build the 20-plan target list in an afternoon; ACAP (Association for Community Affiliated Plans) member plans, which skew exactly mid-size; warm introductions through risk adjustment consultants and RISE speakers.

2Sell first, build later

A second-pass retrieval pilot: the plan hands over 200 charts its current vendor returned as unretrievable this sweep, and Retrieva returns at least 150 of them as complete, audit-trailed charts within 45 days of the BAA, using credentialed field couriers wherever no electronic path exists.

the ask · $60 per successfully retrieved chart, roughly $12,000 for a full pilot, with $3,000 invoiced at SOW signature

a real yes · A real yes is a countersigned pilot SOW with a start date plus the $3,000 invoice paid or a PO issued; 'send us your security questionnaire', an unpaid test batch, and enthusiasm about the API are not a yes.

3Small experiments

The first one attacks the riskiest assumption; each ends with a number that says whether to run the next.

1. Unretrieved-tail discovery calls
$2,800 · 14 days
Build the 20-plan list from the CMS enrollment files, then book 15 calls with risk adjustment VPs through RISE West hallway meetings and direct email. Ask for two numbers: last sweep's retrieval completion rate, and how many charts were abandoned as unretrievable. The founder runs every call and logs the numbers verbatim.
keep going if · 10 of 15 share their numbers, and 8 of 15 report 5% or more of chases ending unretrieved with a dollar impact they can name
2. Courier unit-cost check
$0 · 7 days
Call 12 regional release-of-information and record copy services across the three target states and price subcontracted facility visits per retrieved chart. This sets the floor under the $60 price before anything is sold.
keep going if · 8 of 12 quote, and the median all-in subcontract cost lands under $35 per retrieved chart in every state
3. Second-pass pilot pre-sale
$500 · 21 days
Take a one-page pilot SOW back to the 15 VPs: 200 charts their incumbent returned empty, $60 per chart successfully retrieved, at least 150 back complete within 45 days of the BAA, $3,000 invoiced at signature. Ask each for a signed SOW with a start date on the call.
keep going if · 2 of 15 plans countersign with a start date, and at least 1 pays the $3,000 signature invoice

4Collect a deposit up front

Tesla took $1,000 refundable reservations for the Model 3 and $100 for the Cybertruck before building either: the deposit is the measurement, not the revenue.

$3,000

per prospect, refundable

how · A paid pilot invoiced up front: $3,000 against the pilot fee at SOW signature, paid by ACH under the plan's standard vendor terms, signed by the VP of risk adjustment who owns the per-chart budget today. Where procurement will not release money before the security review and BAA, take a countersigned SOW with a dated start and a PO number in process instead, and log it as the weaker yes it is. set up: Stripe Invoicing ↗

what it reserves · One of 3 pilot slots in the first cohort, a $60 per-chart price locked for 12 months, and a start date within 30 days of the BAA

refund · Refunded in full if fewer than 150 of the 200 charts come back complete by day 45.

target · 2 signed pilots, at least 1 with the $3,000 paid, from 20 plans within 6 weeks

before taking money · Sign a BAA and confirm state release-of-information and courier credentialing requirements with healthcare counsel before touching a single chart; run all discovery and pre-sales on counts and contracts, never on PHI.

Go: build it if

8 of 15 plans confirm a 5%+ unretrieved tail, courier subcontract cost holds under $35 per chart, and 2 plans sign pilots with at least 1 paying $3,000 up front.

Kill: stop if

Fewer than 5 of 15 plans report a meaningful unretrieved tail, or zero signed SOWs after 15 pilot conversations in 6 weeks; that means incumbents plus electronic exchange already cover the tail and the courier crew has no market.

5 Scripts to run itoutreach message, landing copy, deposit terms · click to open

outreach message

You are mid chart chase, and a slice of this year's pulls will come back from your retrieval vendor marked unretrievable, each one risk-adjustment revenue you booked and cannot defend. I am selling a second-pass pilot: give me 200 of those dead charts and I return at least 150 complete, with an audit trail, within 45 days, at $60 per chart retrieved, field couriers included where no electronic path exists. Could I get 20 minutes this week to walk through the scope?

landing page

The charts your retrieval vendor gave up on, recovered $60 per retrieved chart; a $3,000 signature invoice reserves 1 of 3 pilot slots. Book a pilot scoping call.

deposit terms

Your $3,000 is invoiced at SOW signature and applied to the pilot fee; it reserves one of 3 first-cohort pilot slots and locks $60 per chart for 12 months. The pilot starts within 30 days of the executed BAA. If fewer than 150 of your 200 charts come back complete by day 45, the $3,000 is refunded in full.

Would you run this test?

One tap. The yes-share feeds the Demand pillar of this idea's score; nobody sees who answered.

Budgets are out-of-pocket estimates for a team of one to three, US market. Size the deposit to the deal, and check the terms before taking money in a regulated line.

Scorecard

One score that balances how trendy the idea is, the demand for it and its potential for 100x, with competition measured relative to every other idea in the catalog. Recent startup trends first, government priorities second.

Idea Score, 0-100 · raw 55.9 x 1.61

Active

competition: more crowded than 52% of ideas · headwind x0.74

+3.2

government priorities, secondary (23 matching grants)

Trend

Is the wave forming now? 2025-26 entrants vs 2023-24, rounds since 2025, the sector's live-batch direction, the 2026 trend analyst.

Entrants 2025-26 vs 2023-24 (similar companies)70
Rounds announced 2025+ in the sector69
Sector direction (live batch)100
2026 trend analyst25

Demand

Does anyone want it? YC's current RFS, companies already paid for something similar, the operator judge, founders' yes-rate in decks, readers who would run the test.

YC asks for it (current RFS: idea / sector)30
Someone already pays (similar companies, recent / all-time)100
Operator judge: real pain100

100x potential

Can it return a fund? The venture judge (double weight), market-size and moat axes, neighbours still alive, the technologist judge.

Venture judge75
Market size axis100
Moat axis80
Neighbours still alive50
Technologist judge50

Score = 100 x cbrt(Trend x Demand x 100x) x (1 - 0.5 x crowding) + government bonus (max 5), calibrated so the 95th-percentile idea scores 90 (order never changes). A geometric mean: a weak pillar cannot be papered over. Percentiles are among the 272 ideas in the catalog; the terms matched were licensed, records, network, couriers, charts, reach, retrieval, health.

The idea in full

What: Retrieva is a records retrieval API for health plans, pharma safety teams and large provider groups that need complete patient charts, not the subset that sits in an EHR interface. Where a request cannot be served electronically, the same API dispatches a credentialed regional courier or on-site scanner to the facility, and the record comes back through the same endpoint with an audit trail. The company holds the release-of-information licensing and interoperability network designation itself, so buyers contract with one entity instead of forty state-level vendors.
Why now: Hubble (yc S26) entered the last cohort on exactly the premise that existing record APIs cannot retrieve everything, which validates the gap without covering the physical half of it; this cluster added 126 new companies in 2024 and 130 across the last two years, almost all clinical AI that is useless without complete source records.
Wedge: first customer and entry point: One buyer type first: mid-size Medicare Advantage plans running risk adjustment chart chases in three states, priced per retrieved chart with a completeness guarantee, sold by the founder to the VP of risk adjustment.
Path to 100x: US health administrative processing and data exchange is a $100B+ annual spend, and record retrieval is the mandatory input to risk adjustment, claims audit, prior authorization and litigation, all of which are priced per chart today. Whoever holds the licensing plus the physical last mile becomes the default endpoint every clinical AI buyer integrates once, which is a new category rather than a better vendor.
Ceiling: Per-page retrieval pricing compresses toward zero as electronic exchange matures, leaving a low-margin toll business worth a few hundred million.
Closest real companies, as the generator saw them: Hubble (yc S26) is the closest, an API for hard-to-reach records; Retrieva differs by owning the regulatory designation and a field retrieval crew, so it answers requests electronic-only players return empty. Lattice Health and Opalite Health sit downstream on records rather than sourcing them.
Main risk: National exchange frameworks make electronic retrieval near-complete faster than expected, and the field crew becomes dead weight on a shrinking tail.

Five judges

Each judge scores every idea in the catalog with a named rubric; the venture judge decides whether a card is shown at all (4-5 is venture-grade).

Venture investor
4/5
Revenue within a year on $100B+ administrative spend, and the release-of-information licensing plus courier last mile is genuinely hard to copy.
Bootstrapper
5/5
Medicare Advantage plans already pay per retrieved chart for risk adjustment, revenue within a year, dull recurring chart chases.
Operator
5/5
Medicare Advantage risk adjustment chart chases are priced per chart today and the VP of risk adjustment owns that budget; revenue within a year.
Technologist
3/5
Credentialed couriers and state-level ROI licensing are hard to assemble but are operational, not technical, and electronic exchange is eroding the tail.
Risk
5/5
Owns the release-of-information licensing and interoperability designation, bills within a year across plans, pharma safety and provider groups, no single platform dependency.
trends
2/5
Why-now is that Hubble exists; chart chases for Medicare Advantage risk adjustment were the same business in 2023, courier and all.

Similar startups in the directory

Companies whose pitch matches most of the idea's terms (licensed, records, network, couriers, charts, reach, retrieval, health): 23 all-time, 7 from the last two years. Same matching as Idea Check.

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Hubbleyc S26 · 2026 · Healthcare and bioalive
AI-native retrieval engine for medical records
Neurosoft Bioelectronicsplugandplay PnP 2026 · 2026 · Healthcare and bioalive
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Zavoyc F25 · 2025 · Vertical AI agentsalive
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Trial Libraryplugandplay PnP 2025 · 2025 · Healthcare and bioalive
Trial Library is an oncology clinical trials company.
Cyberdeskyc S25 · 2025 · Agent infrastructurealive
Self learning computer use agent for developers
Kaspixalchemist Alchemist Class 39 · 2025 · AI infra and computeunchecked
Kaspix helps OEMs ship cheaper, upgradeable edge devices faster—using swappable manufacturable analog-AI modules that cut BOM and test time without leading-edge digital chips.
Pelicayc X25 · 2025 · Vertical AI agentsalive
AI agents for risk-bearing healthcare organizations
Codes Healthyc S24 · 2024 · Vertical AI agentsalive
Medical Record Retrieval with Zero Human Error
Health Harboryc S23 · 2023 · Vertical AI agentsunchecked
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NewsCatcheryc S22 · 2022 · Data for AIalive
Turning the web into a structured database of real world events.

Run this as an Idea Check →

The generator's reference companies

Real companies the model named as closest when it wrote the card, with their fate. A check mark is a company the radar could verify in its directory.

Public money in this direction

US federal grants, SBIR/STTR awards and open opportunities from the radar's public-money feed, matched to the idea's terms; the sector totals give the context.

grants and programs matching the idea

1595

startup-relevant grants in Healthcare and bio

$854M

awarded in the sector, tracked

118

opportunities open now in the sector

Auxigen: BIO – An Adaptive, AI-Driven Commercialization Training Platform for Biomedical Researchersawardhigh relevance
NIH / NIGMS · SBIR phase I · $309K · posted 2026-09-01
A Phase 2a Clinical Trail With a Drug that Targets CD40 Mediated Autoinflammation.awardhigh relevance
NIH / NIDDK · SBIR phase II · $635K · posted 2026-09-01
Project VELA: A Cloud-Based, Model-Agnostic Federated Query Tool to Enable Scalable, Inclusive Multi-Site Research Across Health Systemsawardhigh relevance
NIH / NIMHD · SBIR phase I · $307K · posted 2026-08-28
I-Corps: Translation Potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Enabled Cardiovascular Risk Prediction from Routine Imaging and Clinical Dataawardhigh relevance
National Science Foundation · I-Corps · $50K · posted 2026-08-26
I-Corps: Translation Potential of an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Based Platform for Early Osteoporosis Risk Predictionawardhigh relevance
National Science Foundation · I-Corps · $50K · posted 2026-08-17
I-Corps: Translation Potential of an Autonomous Brain-on-a-Chip Platform for Functional Drug Discoveryawardhigh relevance
National Science Foundation · I-Corps · $50K · posted 2026-08-14
InVitreON: A compact and integrated platform for long-term neuronal culture incubation, recording and closed-loop stimulationawardhigh relevance
NIH / NIMH · SBIR phase I · $457K · posted 2026-08-01
TrichTok: Developing a scalable, video-based mobile intervention with peer support for adolescents and emerging adults with trichotillomaniaawardhigh relevance
NIH / NIMH · SBIR phase I · $417K · posted 2026-08-01

All public money by sector →

Market signal

What the radar sees in Healthcare and bio: new companies by cohort year, the forming YC batch, and outcomes since the February snapshot.

Healthcare and bio · 135 → 121 → 224 → 173 → 127 new companies 2022 → 2026 · 91% aliveYC F26 live: 2 in this cluster, 2% of the batch (was 6% in S26)Since February, of 442 YC companies here: 6 acquired, 6 shut down, 45 rewrote their pitch

Healthcare and bio: companies, trend and grants →

Design attributes

The card is one cell of a designed set: every axis below was chosen before the text was written, and the text had to realize it.

Buyer: Enterprise
Business model: Infrastructure and APIs
Path to 100x: Creates a new category
Market size: $100B+ market
Capital intensity: Capital-medium (ops, field teams)
Speed to revenue: Revenue within a year
Technical depth: Integrations, no-code
Go-to-market: Founder-led sales
Moat: License or regulatory moat
Geography: US first
Regulation: Some regulation
Vibe: Boring business