Healthcare often focuses on quality, affordability, and convenience, but capacity—the system’s ability to deliver care at scale—is a critical challenge we overlook. As the population grows older and sicker, our stagnant clinician workforce is stretched thin, making high-quality care harder to deliver. At Counsel, we’re on a mission to multiply clinical capacity, empowering physicians with AI-driven tools to provide more care without compromising quality.

Dr. Muthu Alagappan, CEO and Founder of Counsel, speaks to Pear VC about the new modern solution for access to care.

Counsel Health, a health care virtual communications startup, raised an $11 million seed to expand into more states, CEO Muthu Alagappan tells Axios exclusively.

Counsel Health announces $11M in Seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Bio + Health, with participation from Asymmetric Capital Partners, Floodgate Fund and Pear VC. The funding will support Counsel's national expansion and coverage extension to millions more members.

As primary care physicians, we see a scene play out almost daily. A patient is sitting in front of us, explaining her symptoms: She could have difficulty breathing, stress at home, fatigue. We know there is nothing more important than being fully present.

In this episode we talk with Rishi Khakhkhar MD, MBA who is a practicing emergency medicine physician and the founding medical director at Counsel Health, an AI-enabled medical practice that specializes in messaging-based care. This is an amazing conversation and quite possibly the best episode yet!