Clinical trials are replete with challenges, from reaching target enrollment, engaging and retaining participants, managing the administrative burden for healthcare providers and handling and analyzing data.
Stanford grads Tran Le and Sohit Gatiganti believe their startup, Grove AI, can address some of these challenges. They founded the San Francisco-based company in 2024 and are leveraging artificial intelligence to streamline clinical trial processes, enhance participant engagement and accelerate trial timelines.
The centerpiece of Grove AI’s platform is an AI agent named Grace, designed to assist with tasks like participant prescreening, scheduling and engagement. Grace is multilingual, available 24/7 and the company has found a 97% trial participant satisfaction rate in interactions with the agent, which have now numbered 250,000.
The company has attracted some investment, with Grove AI securing $4.9m in a seed funding round led by A*, with participation from investors such as Afore Capital, LifeX Ventures, Pear VC and Upfront Ventures.
In Vivo spoke with Le and Gatiganti about the need for an AI agent like Grace, how the agent has been helping biopharma companies reach their recruitment goals and what they envision for the future of the agentic AI.
Timestamps:
Intro
0:55 - Tran Le and Sohit Gataganti’s impetus for founding Grove AI
2:10 - From Stanford to startup
2:45 - Meet Grace, the clinical trial recruitment agentic AI
4:25 - How does agentic AI differ from conventional AI?
5:30 - What can Grace do?
7:20 - Live Grace demo
9:20 - Rollout to date and partnerships
11:10 - How Grace saves time and money, and a case study
12:35 - Vision for Grace as a digital staff member
13:20 - What other challenges will Grace be able to address in the future?
14:35 - Collecting data and gleaning insights
15:15 - The co-founders' 5-10-year vision
16:30 - Funding and revenue
17:10 - How Grace can help biopharma leaders engage directly in clinical trial design
