Rise Of The AI-Doc: Insurer Prudential Taps Babylon Health In $100 Million SoftwareLicensing Deal

Prudential Asia, a business unit of British insurer Prudential plc., has signed a licensing deal with digital health startup Babylon Health to exclusively use its AI-powered software for its own apps across 12 countries in Asia. Prudential is paying approximately $100 million over the course of several years, according to sources close to the deal, to access proprietary software that includes an inference engine, simulation software and a medical-knowledge graph that over time aims to replicate and automate consultations with human doctors. Babylon declined to comment on the deal pricing, and spokespeople for Prudential Asia could not be reached for comment on pricing. Babylon Health is best known for providing a virtual-doctor service in the U.K., where more than 26,000 NHS patients in London can get appointments with doctors via video calls and thousands more use its private service for $80 a year. Babylon won't provide remote doctors to Prudential; it'll instead provide the software that powers the medical chatbot on its app.