Ex-Facebook engineer is tackling clinician burnout at Freed after seeing wife’s challenges
Erez Druk, co-founder and CEO of Freed.
Courtesy: Freed
For Erez Druk, who spent almost four years working at Facebook, building health-care startup Freed has been a labor of love, quite literally.
Druk’s wife, Dr. Gabi Meckler, works at a community clinic in northern California, where she cares for children and adults, and delivers babies at a local hospital. When not with patients, Meckler is inundated with paperwork, constantly updating medical records and related documents.
“I got sucked into the world of clinicians,” Druk said in an interview. “One day, it was like, ‘Hey Gabi, what should we just build for you?’ And she said, ‘Do my notes for me.'”
Druk worked as a software engineer at Facebook from 2013 until launching his prior startup, UrbanLeap, in 2017. He shuttered UrbanLeap, which focused on software for public procurement, in 2022, and started Freed the following year, along with Andrey Bannikov, who had spent the prior decade at Facebook.
Freed offers an AI scribe that automates the clinical notetaking process in real time as doctors consensually record their visits with patients. The company sells the technology directly to individual clinicians, oftentimes at small or independent practices, for $99 a month, and is beginning to partner with entire practices, Druk said.
On Wednesday, Freed announced a $30 million funding round led by Sequoia Capital, a hefty haul for a company raising its first institutional capital. The company also announced new features like custom note formatting, pre-charting, and specialty specific templates. Freed said it plans to build additional capabilities, like automating coding and other billing cycle functions.
Clinicians spend nearly nine hours a week on documentation, according to an October study from Google Cloud. A study last year from Athenahealth concluded that administrative tasks are a significant reason for burnout, as 64% of doctors feel overwhelmed by clerical requirements.
Physicians are responsible for completing mountains of paperwork, including the tedious and time-consuming process of clinical notes, which contain detailed records of patient visits.
Druk wants to automate as much of that process as possible so doctors can spend more time with patients and, perhaps, even with their family.
As of late February, 17,000 clinicians around the world are using Freed in about 2 million patient visits each month, he said.
“It just started spreading,” Druk said. “It’s really been beyond my wildest expectations.”
Crowded field
Druk isn’t the only one who sees the opportunity.
The AI scribing market has exploded in recent years as health systems have been searching for tools that can help address administrative burnout. Freed is going up against tech giants like Microsoft, as well as startups like Abridge and Suki that have developed similar tools.
Josephine Chen, a partner at Sequoia, said the crowded market reflects the seriousness of the problem. She said Freed’s scribing tool has gained traction by focusing on smaller, independent offices.
“Freed’s approach is unique because most of the companies we see are serving a different market segment,” Chen said.
Natalie Desseyn said Freed is the reason she’s still working as a nurse practitioner in psychiatry.
Desseyn sees about 250 patients through a practice called Cloud Break Therapy in Virginia. She’s been using Freed for about two years and pays for it herself. Without it, she said she wouldn’t be able to see patients on such a large scale, if at all.
“I’m not over here writing, so people feel really heard,” Desseyn said. “I can’t tell you all the ways, it’s literally changed my life.”
Desseyn has tried a few other AI scribing tools, but she said she always comes back to Freed. She said its model is better at keeping things precise, sticking to the facts and avoiding extraneous comments in the notes.
Meckler, Druk’s wife, said documentation was the thing she disliked the most while practicing medicine. She said Freed felt like “magic” the first time she used it.
Previously, Meckler said she would spend about half of her day writing notes. Individual tasks that used to take her around 15 minutes to complete now take closer to two, she said.
“I expect great things from Erez, but I was still shocked,” Meckler said.
Druk said he and his 50-person team are focused on building the business and its product portfolio this year. He said he remains committed to creating a platform that clinicians, and his wife, enjoy using.
“It’s truly the most fulfilling and the most important work I’ve ever done, and probably will ever do,” he said.
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Palantir co-founder and CEO Alex Karp speaks during the Hill & Valley Forum at the US Capitol Visitor Center Auditorium in Washington, DC, on April 30, 2025.
Brendan Smialowski | Afp | Getty Images
Palantir shares dropped more than 10% Tuesday even after the data analytics and artificial intelligence software company showed ongoing revenue growth acceleration.
“Some investors may be disappointed with the modest full- year revenue guidance raise, the sequential margin decline, and the international commercial revenue year-over-year decline,” wrote William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma, adding that the company’s high software multiple makes it “vulnerable” to compression as revenue growth slows.
Despite the post-earnings move, Palantir topped revenue expectations and lifted its revenue guidance for the year. The Denver-based company posted adjusted earnings of 13 cents per share on $884 million in revenues. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected adjusted EPS of 13 cents and revenues of $863 million.
Palantir’s revenues rose 39% from $634.3 million in the year-ago quarter. Net income grew to about $214 million, or 8 cents per share, from roughly $105.5 million, or 4 cents per share, a year ago. The company also hiked its full-year revenue outlook to between $3.89 billion and $3.90 billion
CEO Alex Karp said that “Palantir is on fire” and he’s “very optimistic” about the current setup during the earnings call after the bell Monday.
“The reality of what’s going on is that this is an unvarnished cacophony — the combination of 20 years of investment and a massive cultural shift in the U.S. which is generating numbers,” he said.
Palantir has outperformed the market this year, building on a successful 2024 run in which the stock was the best performer in the S&P 500. Many on Wall Street say the surge in shares has contributed to an elevated multiple for the company, making the bar higher and higher to clear. To be sure, the stock has undergone immense volatility amid the latest batch of market volatility spurred by President Donald Trump’s tariff plans.
“While 2025 numbers move higher on guidance ahead of consensus, we question conservatism and if estimate revisions are priced in from here,” said RBC Capital Markets analyst Rishi Jaluria.
Despite the company’s strong execution and fundamentals, Mizuho’s Gregg Moskowitz also said it’s “very difficult to justify” its high multiple. Raymond James analyst Brian Gesuale said that Palantir needs to consolidate some of its gains to “grow into its rich valuation.”
Wall Street also highlighted a deceleration in international commercial revenues among the reasons for the potential decline in shares. The segment fell 5% year over year after rising 3% in the previous quarter due to headwinds in Europe.
Management said on an earnings call that the region is “going through a very structural change and doesn’t quite get AI.”
Palantir ytd share chart
Travelers walk past a sign pointing toward the Uber rideshare vehicle pickup area at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on February 8, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
Uber will acquire an 85% stake in Turkish food delivery platform Trendyol GO for about $700 million in cash, the company said in a securities filing.
The deal, subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in the second half of this year. Uber said it expects the transaction to be accretive to its growth once completed.
“Uber and Trendyol GO coming together will elevate the delivery sector in Türkiye for consumers, couriers, restaurants and retailers, especially small and family-owned businesses,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a release. “This deal reflects our long-term commitment to Türkiye, we’re incredibly impressed with what the Trendyol GO team has built, and we’re excited to continue that strong momentum across the country.”
Founded in 2010, Trendyol GO is run by Turkish e-commerce platform Trendyol, which is majority owned by Chinese titan Alibaba. The platform hosts roughly 90,000 restaurants and 19,000 couriers across the country.
In 2024, Trendyol GO delivery more than 200 million orders and generated $2 billion in gross bookings, a jump of 50% year over year, Uber said in the securities filing.
The announcement comes as Uber is set to report first-quarter earnings before market open on Wednesday. The rideshare and food delivery company is expected to post earnings per share of 51 cents on revenue of $11.6 billion, according to StreetAccount.
A DoorDash sign is pictured on a restaurant on the day they hold their IPO in New York, December 9, 2020.
Carlo Allegri | Reuters
Doordash on Tuesday announced the $1.2 billion acquisition of restaurant booking platform SevenRooms and reported first-quarter revenue that missed expectations.
Shares fell about 4% following the news.
Here’s how the company did, based on LSEG expectations:
- Earnings per share: 44 cents adjusted vs. 39 cents expected
- Revenue: $3.03 billion vs. $3.09 billion expected
Doordash said the all-cash acquisition of SevenRooms, a New York City-based data platform for restaurants and hotels to manage booking information, will close in the second half of 2025.
British food delivery service Deliveroo said Tuesday that they have agreed to a takeover offer from American rival Doordash worth $3.9 billion.
“We believe both SevenRooms and Deliveroo will expand our ability to build world class services that increase our potential to grow local commerce and support our financial goals,” Doordash said in a release.
Doordash reported total orders of 732 million for the quarter, an 18% increase over the same period a year ago. Analysts polled by StreetAccount expected 732.7 million.
The company said it expects second-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $600 million to $650 million. Analysts polled by StreetAccount expected $639 million.
“So far in 2025, consumer demand on our marketplaces has remained strong, with engagement across different consumer cohorts and types that we believe is consistent with typical seasonal patterns,” the company said.
Doordash reported $193 million in net income for Q1 2025, or 44 cents per share. The company had a net loss of $23 million, or a net loss of 6 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago.
Doordash noted growth in the grocery delivery category, citing “accelerating average spend per grocery consumer and increasing average spend on perishables.”
The company did not mention tariffs as a factor in the financial outlook, but did note that an increased international presence leaves it open to “geopolitical and currency risks.”
doordash one-day chart
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