Heart health is a solved problem
Biomedically, we know how to prevent heart disease. We can measure the risk factors, we know which ones matter, and we have effective interventions for nearly all of them. Yet heart disease remains the #1 cause of death worldwide, killing more people than all cancers combined. We started Empirical as a heart health company because this gap between what medicine knows and what people actually do is the biggest solvable problem in healthcare.
<5% lifetime risk
People who keep their risk factors controlled—blood pressure, ApoB, blood sugar, inflammation—have less than a 5% lifetime chance of developing heart disease. The science is clear. The gap is execution.
2,002 decisions per year
Heart health isn't one big choice. It's thousands of small ones.
2 major decisions
What to test—the right biomarkers, at the right frequency. And what medications, if any, to take. These two decisions set the trajectory.
Value-based care and AI flip the economics of prevention
In the medical literature, the most comprehensive heart health programs cost $9,895 per year. That's great if you can afford it, but heart disease doesn't discriminate by income. Value-based care and AI make it possible to build a heart health company that delivers comprehensive, personalized care to everyone, not just the wealthy.
Empirical is a heart health company dedicated to preventing heart disease
100+ Biomarkers
Comprehensive lab testing that goes far beyond standard cholesterol panels
Model Your Risk
Predict your cardiovascular risk up to 30 years in advance using statistical models
Daily Prevention
Evidence-based interventions and wearable insights to prevent heart disease before it starts
Founded by a doctor and an engineer
We built this heart health company with expertise in machine learning, consumer mobile, heart health, and value-based care.
Raquel Rodriguez Martinez, MD, MPP
Previously a Clinical Assistant Professor and Medical Director at UC San Francisco, where she cut heart failure readmissions by 42%. Trained at Kaiser and UCLA. MD and MPP with training in value-based care and value-based payment models.
Brandon Ballinger
Founded Sift ($1B valuation, ML for fraud detection) and Cardiogram (acquired, 10 million organic users). Published research on deep learning for heart disease in JAMA Cardiology. ML tech lead at Google, HealthCare.gov rescue team, Head of Risk Engineering at Brex.
Our Backers
We're proud to be backed by Y Combinator, the world's leading startup accelerator, as well as top seed investors.
Read more about our YC launch.