Stanford-StartX Fund, an investment vehicle backed by the university, has had its lawsuit against US-based virtual medical assistant developer MedWhat sent to a mediation panel, Analytics Insight has reported. Mediation will involve both parties seeking an amicable solution, or “alternative dispute resolution”, to the case, which was initially filed with the Superior Court of California in the County of San Francisco on April 9. Stanford-StartX has not publicly stated why it is pursuing MedWhat, though a legal document indicates it is acting in consort with Caixa Capital, Regent Capital Ventures and Startcaps Ventures.  Lawyers representing the plaintiffs objected to mediation but have had their concerns overruled. MedWhat is developing a medical chatbot that relies on artificial intelligence to assess a user’s symptoms before suggesting the best remedies for any health conditions they may have. The company’s long-term aim is to develop a platform that matches human-level intelligence in medicine. The company graduated from the 2013 cohort of StartX and also participated in software company Microsoft’s accelerator in 2016. Stanford-StartX Fund first backed MedWhat as part of a $560,000 seed round in 2014 together with Stanford Hospital, Startcaps Ventures and assorted angel investors. The fund later provided undisclosed amounts of follow-on funding in 2015 and 2017. Regulatory filings indicate MedWhat obtained at least $2.6m in capital last year.

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