In a year marked by aggressive AI adoption and ballooning vendor lists across healthcare systems, Bobby Guelich saw a widening gap in the decision-making processes meant to govern technology. “Today, selecting the right technology has never mattered more,” Guelich wrote in a LinkedIn post. “AI is transforming healthcare, and the organizations that can identify and adopt the right solutions will be the ones that thrive, while those that can’t risk falling behind operationally, financially, and clinically.”
Guelich, CEO of Elion, believes health systems are overwhelmed by choice. New tools promise everything from administrative automation to clinical intelligence, yet few institutions have the internal research capacity or structured data to effectively evaluate them. Elion looks to be a platform to help healthcare leaders cut through the vendor noise and make faster, smarter procurement decisions.
The company recently raised $9.3 million in seed funding to scale its efforts. The round was led by NEA, with participation from Cedars Sinai Health Ventures, TMV, Scrub Capital, and Alumni Ventures. According to Guelich, Elion already serves more than 60% of U.S. health systems and has seen a fivefold increase in usage over the past year.
Vendor Intelligence for an Unstructured Market
Elion operates as a health IT marketplace and research firm. Its core product is a structured dataset tracking thousands of health technology vendors. Unlike generic procurement databases, Elion incorporates domain expertise from healthcare operations and system-level workflows to contextualize product performance and relevance. In theory, this shortens the evaluation cycle and reduces the risk of adopting low-fit tools in a high-stakes environment.
“We’re reimagining what a technology research and advisory business looks like in the age of generative AI,” Guelich said in a press release. “The starting point is our vendor marketplace, which has quickly become the go-to resource for health systems and provider organizations trying to make sense of a crowded and fast-changing landscape.”
This isn’t a static database. The company pairs its platform with custom research, curated events, and direct strategic support to guide health systems on broader AI adoption. “More than 60% of U.S. health systems use our marketplace to discover and evaluate vendors,” Guelich wrote. “Leaders from top institutions rely on our research to make more informed technology decisions. Healthcare IT buyers are accelerating their processes through our curated events.”
That combination of structured intelligence and workflow integration appears to be Elion’s key differentiator. In a crowded market for AI directories, the company is staking its position not as a vendor evaluator but as an embedded research partner for healthcare decision-makers.
Tom Maddox, MD SM, Vice President of Digital Products & Innovation at BJC, said in a statement, “Elion gives me a clear, structured view of the health tech landscape, without the noise. It helps me quickly identify the right partners to advance our digital and innovation goals.”
Investor Confidence in a Consolidation Era
The funding round comes as provider organizations face narrowing budgets and growing pressure to consolidate their vendor stacks. Investors have taken note of the operational bottleneck this has created. “GenAI created a surge of health tech solutions,” said Michael Li, Principal at NEA. “But adoption has lagged as providers face an overwhelming array of high-stakes choices and time-consuming research. Elion accelerates tech adoption and time-to-value so providers can focus on taking care of patients, not applications.”
That thesis appears to be gaining traction beyond traditional venture capital. Scrub Capital, a new fund led by veteran healthcare operators including Christina Farr, Dr. Rebecca Mitchell, and Dr. Jon Slotkin, joined the round alongside institutional backers like TMV and Cedars Sinai Health Ventures. “We believe Elion is poised to become a valuable tool for healthtech intelligence, helping hospitals, investors, and innovators make smarter, data-driven choices,” said Maureen Burgess, Partner at Cedars Sinai Health Ventures.
With the new capital, Elion plans to expand its engineering, research, and marketing teams while developing new platform features. Though still early, the company is positioning itself as an essential utility in a post-AI-hype healthcare market.
“We believe better decisions about technology lead to better care, better operations, and better outcomes,” Guelich wrote. “That’s the future we’re working toward, and we’re proud to support the leaders and organizations making it possible.”
