There’s a quiet part in every hospital story that doesn’t make it into the movie, the part after discharge. No more beeping monitors. No white coats hovering. Just you, a stack of paperwork, and a head full of questions no one answered. That’s where people fall through the cracks. And that’s where Kouper shows up.
Founded in 2021 by Salman Ali, Ablimit Keskin, and Theodore Lee, Kouper (say it like “Cooper”) didn’t just choose its name because it sounded slick. It comes from the Latin “recuperatio”, recovery. Not the kind you read about in brochures, but the messy, real-world recovery that happens, or doesn’t, when you leave the hospital and no one’s really watching. Kouper builds AI infrastructure to plug the black hole between discharge and actual care. Think of it as the backend brain hospitals didn’t know they needed but now can’t afford to live without.
On May 8, Kouper emerged from stealth mode, strapped with a $10M raise led by General Catalyst, 25madison, and CVS Health Ventures, backed by a crew of sharp healthcare angels who saw what the industry’s been missing, tech that doesn’t just react but anticipates. Three years underground. Twelve team members. One laser-focused vision, smooth out care transitions so people don’t end up back in a hospital bed because no one followed up.
This isn’t some pitch-deck fairy tale. Partnering with Lifepoint Health®, Henry Ford Health, and Ascension, Kouper has already driven over 50% higher patient engagement and more than 60% better post-discharge and ED followup. In a world where 1 in 5 Medicare patients boomerang back to the hospital, costing north of $26B annually, those aren’t vanity metrics. That’s real-world impact with a capital “I”.
The tech stack is secure, integrated, and built for behavior, not buzzwords. Generative AI meets machine learning wrapped in SMS workflows that actually get answered. Kouper deploys in under 30 days, acting like a virtual concierge for care, scheduling, reminders, even transportation. No portals, no apps, just care that shows up.
Salman Ali, fresh off a run with GetSnooze and armed with an MBA from Columbia Business School, co-built this with Dr. Keskin, who came out of Komodo Health with the kind of precision that doesn’t waste a line of code. Together, they mapped the administrative black holes, did their reps with 25M Health and LifePoint, and built a product grounded in the messiness of real-world care.
This isn’t about sexy tech. It’s about the unsexy reality, 35 million discharges happen every year in the U.S., and most of them don’t end with a doctor, they end with a question mark. Kouper replaces that silence with answers.
Let’s be honest, everyone wants to fix healthcare. Few are starting where it’s actually broken.
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