Citizen Health Raises $30 Million to Build AI Advocate for Every Patient, Ushering in a New Era of Patient-Centered Healthcare
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Citizen Health, a patient-powered platform transforming rare disease care, announced today it has raised $30 million in Series A funding. The round was led by 8VC, with participation from Transformation Capital and Headline, bringing the company's total funding to $44 million since its December 2023 launch.
Founded by Farid Vij (CEO & Co-founder), Nasha Fitter (Chief Business Officer & Co-founder), and a team of industry veterans, Citizen Health is pioneering a new paradigm in healthcare by empowering patients—especially those with rare and complex conditions—with agency, clarity, and actionable insights. The company's platform combines AI, community, and longitudinal health data to help patients interpret medical records, track symptoms, learn from peers, manage appointments, and connect to the next best step in their health journey.
"Today's patients aren't waiting—they're searching, deciding, and expecting more," said Farid Vij, CEO and co-founder of Citizen Health. "They deserve the same clarity, personalization, and intelligence in healthcare that they get in every other part of their lives. At Citizen, we're building a personalized AI Advocate for every patient that not only helps people make sense of their health journey, but actually guides them to what they should do next—and connects them to it. This is about turning passive systems into proactive, human-centered experiences."
Nearly half of American adults have at least one chronic illness, making self-advocacy especially important. Citizen's ultimate vision is to provide every patient with a personalized AI Advocate, turning fragmented care into a connected, proactive, and precise experience. They are building agentic AI to take initiative, identifying and acting on opportunities to improve health in ways patients themselves might not anticipate.
"We backed Citizen because they are redefining the care model for patients with complex disease. Citizen's AI advocate is the foundation of a pioneering patient and caregiver experience that is already helping thousands of Americans answer previously unanswerable questions, make informed medical decisions, and accelerate new cures," said Sebastian Caliri, Partner at 8VC who led the Series A round and joined the Citizen Board of Directors.
Vij and Fitter met at their previous company Citizen, which was acquired by Invitae (NYSE:NVTA) in 2021, where Vij was a co-founder. Their new venture, Citizen Health, brings together a leadership team with deep expertise in AI, healthcare, privacy, and consumer technology, with personal motivations rooted in rare disease advocacy and patient empowerment.
"Citizen has truly created a groundbreaking platform that supports individual patients looking to manage rare and complex diseases, while also giving patient advocacy groups a better way to organize their data, and pharma leaders a better way to utilize that data for drug discovery and trials," added Mathias Schilling, Founding Partner at Headline who also invested in the round. "It's rare to see a company combining such expertise in AI and consumer design to impact healthcare, and we're proud to back Farid, Nasha, and the rest of the team."
Citizen Health's Traction and Momentum
- Built over 60 engaged communities across 123 rare and complex conditions
- Partnered with 70+ patient advocacy groups, 70% of which joined organically
- 98.3% of patients share data for research, reflecting high trust in the platform
- Data already accepted by the FDA for regulatory submission
- Collaborating with over 10 pharmaceutical partners
With rare diseases affecting over 400 million people globally and 95% still lacking approved treatments, Citizen Health's mission is more urgent than ever. The company's approach aligns with recent FDA calls for innovation in rare disease and addresses challenges posed by shifting NIH funding and regulatory uncertainty. As genetic testing becomes more accessible, Citizen Health's platform offers a critical solution for new disease groups seeking connection and data-driven progress.
Citizen Health will launch the first version of its AI Advocate to select communities in Q3, alongside a new product for patient advocacy groups. The company's primary focus is recruiting top AI engineers, product builders, and designers to accelerate its mission, as well as deepening partnerships with pharma, policymakers, and patient organizations.
About Citizen Health
Citizen Health is building the future of healthcare, starting with rare disease. By combining AI, community, and longitudinal data, Citizen empowers patients to take control of their care and contribute to the richest research-grade dataset in healthcare. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, and backed by leading investors including 8VC, Headline, Transformation Capital, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and prominent angels. For more information, visit https://www.citizen.health.
About 8VC
8VC is a leading technology investment firm. Its partners have co-founded companies including Palantir, Addepar, Resilience, and Saronic, and invested in such healthcare innovators such as Oscar, Cityblock, and Candid Health. 8VC manages over $7 billion in committed capital, focusing on smart enterprise platforms, healthcare, logistics, Bio-IT, and defense. For more information, visit https://8vc.com.
About Headline
Founded in 1998, Headline is a venture capital firm that partners with fast-growing technology teams to make their success global. With more than $4B of assets under management, the firm invests from its network of regionally focused early-stage funds across the US, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Headline's Global Growth Fund invests globally from Series B and beyond. The size and locations of these funds allow the firm to see local trends up close, meet winning founders, and lead rounds at every stage. Among the 300+ investments globally, Headline's portfolio includes Acorns, AppFolio, ANGI (FKA Angie's List), Brite Payments, Bumble, Fetch, Gopuff, Honeycomb, LucidLink, Mistral AI, Monta, NGINX, Raisin, Sonos, Segment, SEMrush, and Staffbase.
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SOURCE Citizen Health