CrowdMed
DefunctYC W13San Francisco, US · Founded 2012 · 5 employees · 3 known investors
CrowdMed connects patients with a community of medical experts ("Medical Detectives") to help solve complex, undiagnosed medical cases through crowdsourced diagnostic suggestions. Patients submit their medical history and symptoms, receive a report with top diagnostic recommendations, and can present these insights to their physicians for testing.
Also known as CrowdMed, Inc.
Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (W13)
CrowdMed was founded in 2012 by Jared Heyman.
Investors · 3
Company profile
researched Aug 2026CrowdMed (CrowdMed, Inc.) was a San Francisco, California healthcare technology platform that applied crowdsourcing and prediction-market techniques to medical data in order to suggest diagnoses for difficult and undiagnosed cases. Patients completed an online questionnaire covering their medical history, current symptoms and personal circumstances, and submitted the case anonymously; profiles included symptoms, health history, family background and previous testing. A community of participants known as "medical detectives" then proposed possible diagnoses, which other detectives elaborated on. Contributions were weighted according to each detective's prior performance and patient ratings, and detectives could earn and share monetary rewards offered by patients for help solving a case. The top three diagnostic suggestions were compiled into a report for the patient to take to a physician for testing.
There was no requirement for a medical degree to participate as a medical detective; the community included medical students, retired physicians and lay contributors. The company positioned its service for individuals as well as insurance providers and self-insured corporate customers as a way to reduce healthcare costs. CrowdMed graduated from Y Combinator's Winter 2013 batch and launched publicly at the TEDMED 2013 conference in Washington, D.C. Its advisors included founders and executives of online healthcare companies such as WebMD. Y Combinator lists the company's status as inactive and its founders as former founders.
Founding story
Jared Heyman founded the company in 2012 with Axel Setyanto and Jessica Greenwalt after his sister struggled to obtain a diagnosis for her FXPOI condition. During development, the website was tested with 300 randomly selected people.
Business model
CrowdMed operated a consumer-facing subscription/case-submission service, marketed with a seven-day free trial and HSA/FSA eligibility, while also targeting insurance providers and self-insured corporate customers with the proposition of lowering healthcare spending. Medical detectives could earn and share monetary rewards put up by patients for solving their cases.
Paid patient case submissions with a seven-day free trial and stated HSA/FSA eligibility, alongside offerings aimed at insurance providers and self-insured employers.
Traction
More than 900 cases solved as of May 2015; users reported in 21 countries per Wikipedia, while the company's site cites patients in more than 30 countries and "12K happy customers." A January 2016 study in the Journal of Medical Internet Research examined nearly 400 cases from May 2013 to April 2015, finding roughly half of patients likely to recommend CrowdMed to a friend and about 60% reporting insights that moved them closer to a correct diagnosis.
Latest developments
Wikipedia reports the CrowdMed website has appeared down since October 16, 2023, and that the company's LinkedIn page indicated 10 employees as of September 2024; Y Combinator lists the company's status as inactive with a team size of 5. Founder Jared Heyman is described as Executive Chairman of CrowdMed and Managing Partner of Rebel Fund, a seed-stage venture fund investing in Y Combinator startups.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
An early and widely covered example of crowdsourced medical diagnosis, backed by well-known Silicon Valley investors and a Y Combinator alumnus, operating in consumer health services.
Combined open, non-credentialed crowd participation with performance-weighted aggregation and prediction-market mechanics, and monetary case rewards, rather than relying on a closed panel of credentialed physicians.
Technology
An online case-submission questionnaire feeding a crowdsourcing platform that applied prediction-market technology to medical data, aggregating and weighting suggestions from many contributors based on their historical accuracy and patient ratings to produce a ranked list of diagnostic suggestions.
Go-to-market
Direct-to-consumer acquisition through its website with a free trial, amplified by a public launch at the TEDMED 2013 conference and extensive press coverage; the company also pitched insurers and self-insured employers as institutional buyers.
Patients with complex, undiagnosed or rare medical conditions, plus insurance providers and self-insured corporate customers; the case-solving side of the marketplace drew medical students, retired physicians and other lay participants.
Geography
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, with users internationally — 21 countries per Wikipedia and 30-plus countries per the company's website.
History
Founded in 2012, CrowdMed went through Y Combinator's Winter 2013 batch, raised $1.1 million and launched its public beta at TEDMED in Washington, D.C. in 2013. It went on to raise a total of $2.4 million in seed funding from investors including New Enterprise Associates, Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, SV Angel, Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator and actor Patrick Dempsey. By May 2015 the platform had solved more than 900 cases. Wikipedia reports the website appearing down from October 16, 2023, and Y Combinator lists the company as inactive.
Risks & controversies
Users and commentators raised concerns that information supplied through the platform may not come from reliable sources, given that medical detectives were not required to hold medical degrees; critical coverage appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle and KevinMD under framings such as "the dangers of crowdsourced medicine" and "the dangers of inexpert diagnosis from a noisy crowd." The January 2016 evaluation found only about half of patients would recommend the service. Y Combinator now lists the company as inactive and its website reportedly went down in October 2023.
Compiled by commissioned research from 5 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 5
launches, deals, and filingsWikipedia states that since October 16, 2023 the CrowdMed website appears down; Y Combinator lists the company as inactive.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Patrick Dempsey invested in the health startup CrowdMed.
Y Combinator-backed CrowdMed launched to crowdsource medical diagnoses with $1.1 million in funding, as reported by TechCrunch and Mobi Health News.
$1.1M source ↗
CrowdMed completed Y Combinator's Winter 2013 accelerator program.
CrowdMed launched its public beta at the TEDMED conference in Washington, D.C.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
▸Research sources · 5
primary sources listed
- CrowdMedcrowdmed.com · web
5 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does CrowdMed do?
- CrowdMed was a San Francisco healthcare platform that crowdsourced diagnostic suggestions for difficult, undiagnosed medical cases.
- Who founded CrowdMed?
- CrowdMed was founded by Jared Heyman in 2012.
- Who are CrowdMed's investors?
- CrowdMed's investors include Mindset Venture, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Y Combinator.
- Where is CrowdMed headquartered?
- CrowdMed is headquartered in San Francisco, US.