ACTO EXPANDS INVESTMENT IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO SOLVE UNMET NEEDS IN THE LIFE SCIENCES INDUSTRY

US$10M Investment in GenAI Suite of Products will Close the Gap in HCP Omnichannel Engagement in Life Sciences

TORONTO and NEW YORK, September 12, 2024 – ACTO, the only AI-powered Intelligent Field Excellence (IFE) platform purpose-built for the life sciences industry, today announced an expanded investment in Artificial Intelligence (AI), focused on applying Generative AI (GenAI) to specific use cases in pharma sales, marketing, medical affairs, and commercial learning to close the gap in healthcare provider (HCP) omnichannel engagement. This funding of US$10M comes from ACTO’s venture capital investors Questa Capital, Resolve Growth Partners, Graphite Ventures, Panache Ventures, and Innovation Grade Ventures, as well as from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, specifically for GenAI innovation, and the AWS Jumpstart Program to pilot real-world GenAI use cases with customers.

“The life sciences industry is actively looking for new ways to leverage AI to bring drugs to market faster to patients waiting in need,” said Parth Khanna, CEO of ACTO. “While there are incredible advancements being made in the application of advanced AI in drug research and development, there is a notable gap in the use of GenAI on the commercial side. Current solutions are almost exclusively focused on marketing, HCP targeting, workflow automation, and performance insight. No one is focused on the ‘human touch’ element of the omnichannel engagement strategy – helping field reps in face-to-face HCP interactions – which is a massive gap. We are excited to supercharge our AI development to eliminate this gap and bring fresh technology innovation to the market.”

ACTO has dedicated US$10M to GenAI, focused on its LAICA suite of products, announced in 2022. ACTO’s product roadmap includes GenAI in areas specific to life sciences commercial use cases including field rep real-time knowledge assistance, simulated rep-manager roleplay and coaching, commercial learning content creation assistance, and commercial leader field insight assistance. 

“ACTO’s product roadmap demonstrates an intimate understanding of the specific needs of the life sciences industry,” notes Ryan Drant, Founder and Managing Partner at Questa Capital Management, who led ACTO’s last round of equity financing. “As early as 2019, ACTO recognized the potential of AI and began applying it to specific challenges faced by biopharma commercial teams. We believe ACTO’s early focus and deep expertise in AI, along with their demonstrated success in solving challenges faced by pharma companies, positions them to best lead the AI charge on the commercial side of life sciences.”

“The life sciences industry is primed for AI to drive innovation in medicine and enhance healthcare outcomes,” said Jit Sinha, Co-Founder and Partner at Resolve Growth Partners. “We see ACTO as a category leader with their powerful AI-first platform, which empowers pharma companies to consistently turn their field reps into top performers. We’re excited to see ACTO driving this transformation in the industry.”

For more information on the critical gap in pharma omnichannel engagement, read the eBook.

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About ACTO
ACTO is an AI-powered Intelligent Field Excellence (IFE) platform built for life sciences that helps Sales, Marketing, and Medical teams improve customer engagement and brand performance by turning field professionals into “Masters of the Message” who engage HCPs and their support teams with authority and impact. With ACTO, biopharma companies can ensure field professionals are always competent, confident, and credible, delivering the right message to HCPs, while providing senior leaders and frontline managers with the insight they need to drive continuous field force effectiveness. As a validated platform compliant with FDA 21 CFR Part 11 and SOC 2 Type II certified, ACTO is the trusted partner for intelligent field excellence in the Life Sciences industry.