Hike Medical Raises $22.5 Million to Expand From Custom Insoles Into Wider Medical Equipment

Hike Medical, a San Francisco company that manages orders for orthotics, prosthetics and durable medical equipment from referral to delivery, has raised $22.5 million in seed and Series A funding. The round was led by Max Altman at Saga Ventures, with Indicator Ventures, Fifth Down Capital, RiverPark Ventures and other funds, Orthofeet as a strategic investor and commercial partner, and angel investors, according to HME News, which reported the raise on August 26.

The company did not say how the $22.5 million divides between the seed and Series A stages, and it did not disclose a valuation.

From insoles to the wider DME market

Hike started by changing how custom insoles are made, using a mobile foot scan and a 3D printer. The company said that cut wait times from weeks to days and reduced remake rates from 1 in 15 to 1 in 400, according to its release, read via Fitt Insider.

Its platform now has three parts. Hike Intelligence uses AI agents to process a referral automatically and pursue approval and payment before a clinician sees the patient. Hike Clinical lets clinicians scan, document and order devices in one workflow at the point of care. Hike Lab manufactures custom devices in Peoria, Illinois, at what the company says is the largest orthotic 3D print farm in the country, with turnaround of about five business days.

The new money will fund hiring for engineering and sales roles in San Francisco and for manufacturing in Peoria as Hike expands beyond insoles into the broader durable medical equipment market, the company said.

Hike puts U.S. spending on devices such as diabetic inserts, braces, prosthetic limbs, wheelchairs and cranial helmets at about $100 billion a year, and says its own research shows that 60 cents of every dollar is lost to waste, remakes and fraud. Those figures are the company's and were not independently verified.

Leadership and investors

Co-founder and Chief Executive Aadi Bhanti comes from three generations of orthotics and prosthetics clinicians, the company said. "Patients shouldn't have to wait weeks for a device because the systems behind their care don't talk to each other," Bhanti said. "We've proven this model in custom foot orthotics, making the process faster, more accurate and built around the patient instead of the paperwork."

Ahead of the round, Hike hired Jerry Tang as chief operating officer. Tang was previously senior vice president of global operations at Flexport and chief operating officer at Dandy, a digital dental lab, according to the release.

Altman, co-founder and managing partner at Saga Ventures, said: "Full vertical integration is what it takes to recreate a business at scale in healthcare." He said the firm was backing Hike to apply its model across the entire device market.