Lassie

Lassie develops autonomous software agents that take over administrative and financial back-office work for small healthcare practices. Its core product focuses on insurance payment operations: enrolling practices in electronic payments (EFT), retrieving reimbursement data directly from insurer portals, reconciling payments against insurers, patients and claims, posting the results into the practice's practice-management system, and verifying that funds have landed in the bank. Adjacent workflows described by the company include enrollments, appeals, reporting, claim status follow-up, appointment confirmation and rescheduling, and recall booking. The company states that 98% of payment posting is handled autonomously, with exceptions flagged for staff review, and that it works alongside a practice's existing systems rather than replacing them.

The company frames dental and medical practices as a first market within a broader ambition to build autonomous systems that allow small businesses to "run themselves." Management cites independent healthcare practices as the largest small-business category in the U.S. after retail and food and beverage, with a typical practice losing 100+ hours a month to administrative work and spending roughly $200,000 a year on administrative staff. As of the June 2026 Series A announcement, Lassie reported operating in more than 700 practices across 49 states and delivering more than 250,000 hours of labor per year to owners; larger practices are said to save 100+ hours monthly and the average customer at least 30 hours. Onboarding is described as one to two weeks for practices already on EFTs and up to roughly eight weeks where paper checks are still received. Lassie says it is built for healthcare practices, enters into HIPAA business associate agreements, and follows standard healthcare data-handling practices.

Founding story

The company originated with Steijn Pelle, a Netherlands-born product manager who moved to Silicon Valley in 2016, worked at a virtual health practice and then held product roles at Coinbase and Robinhood. His dentist, Dr. Eric Kwon of Grace Dental in the Bay Area, described being overwhelmed by paper insurance statements and adjustments — staying up until 2am, and roughly $1 million behind in receivables at the time. Pelle embedded in Kwon's office for several months as an employee, learning the practice's bookkeeping and accounts-receivable work by hand, while calling his technical co-founder Frédéric Renken — an engineer and the first product hire at Superhuman — in Canada at night to work out how to automate the processes. Pelle also filled in at a gastroenterologist's office in Scranton, Pennsylvania in mid-2020, and the founders interviewed roughly 80 doctors and business owners to validate the problem. The name Lassie was chosen because of Americans' attachment to dogs and the association with rescuing people. Kwon became the company's first customer.

Business model

Lassie sells subscription software/agent services to independent practice owners. Pricing is usage- or work-based — the company states it is paid when it performs work for an office, with pricing set after reviewing a practice's volume and workflows. Reported average contract values are in the five figures annually, positioned against the roughly $100,000-$200,000 practices spend on administrative operating expense.

Performance/volume-linked subscription pricing tied to the administrative work the agent completes for the practice, with five-figure annual contract values.

Traction

More than 700 practices/small businesses served across 49 states as of June 2026, delivering over 250,000 hours of labor per year to owners; 98% of payment posting handled autonomously; average savings of at least 30 hours per month per practice and 100+ hours for larger practices. A named customer, Dr. Eric Kwon of Grace Dental, reports over 100 hours saved monthly and payments arriving in under a week versus four to five weeks previously. In an August 2025 interview the CEO described exponential growth and a projection of $100M ARR within 12 months, with five-figure annual contract values.

Latest developments

On June 3-4, 2026 Lassie announced a $35 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Night Capital and angel investors including Rahul Vohra, Zach Perret, Taavet Hinrikus, Gokul Rajaram and Brian Balfour, taking total capital raised to $47 million and reportedly valuing the company at around $250 million. a16z general partner Alex Rampell joined the board of directors, and Dr. Ed Zuckerberg and former Robinhood CFO Jason Warnick joined as advisors. Proceeds are earmarked for expanding operations and product development, broadening the workflows the agent can handle, easing self-onboarding, and eventually extending beyond dental practices to other doctors' offices. The company was also recruiting for engineering roles.