Pelica: Y Combinator Startup Building AI Operating System for Value-Based Healthcare

Pelica Health is entering the healthcare technology space with a bold vision: to become the operating system for value-based care organizations. Founded by former engineering and AI leaders from Google and YouTube, the startup has secured a spot in Y Combinator's P25 batch and is now actively building its team to bring AI-powered solutions to some of healthcare's most challenging operational problems.

The healthcare industry suffers from data fragmentation across multiple systems—electronic health records (EHRs), claims data, pharmacy information, lab results, and admission/discharge/transfer (ADT) records. This disjointed data landscape creates inefficiencies and gaps in care management. Pelica aims to solve this by unifying these diverse data sources into a single, live record per patient member, then placing AI copilots alongside healthcare teams who depend on this information.

"We are bringing modern AI to the hardest problems in healthcare," explains Lalit Kundu, co-founder of Pelica. "Our goal is to help the teams closest to patients close care gaps and improve outcomes through intelligent decision support."

Pelica's AI agents target several critical areas in healthcare operations:

• Risk adjustment
• Quality and Stars ratings
• Pharmacy and Part D services
• Provider network management
• Care management

The company's approach combines advanced machine learning with practical healthcare domain knowledge. Their system transforms raw, messy real-world healthcare data into reliable features for machine learning models, then applies these models to ranking, prioritization, and prediction problems—such as identifying high-risk patients who need immediate intervention.

What sets Pelica apart is its founding team's experience building large-scale systems at Google and YouTube. "You will work alongside people who built massive systems at scale, a chance to learn a lot and contribute meaningfully from day one," the job posting emphasizes. This background suggests Pelica is not just another healthcare IT vendor, but a team capable of engineering robust, scalable solutions.

The company is currently hiring a Machine Learning Engineer to build and own production ML systems end-to-end. The role requires experience with the full machine learning lifecycle—from data modeling and feature engineering to deployment and monitoring—with particular emphasis on structured healthcare data. Candidates should have strong backend engineering skills and the ability to make architectural decisions balancing accuracy, explainability, reliability, and operational constraints.

Healthcare AI has seen significant investment recently, with companies focusing on everything from diagnostic assistance to administrative automation. Pelica's focus on value-based care operations positions them at the intersection of several important trends: the shift from fee-for-service to value-based reimbursement models, the increasing importance of data analytics in healthcare decision-making, and the application of practical AI solutions to operational challenges.

As value-based care continues to gain traction, providers need better tools to manage patient populations, identify risk factors, and coordinate care across multiple settings. Pelica's AI-powered operating system aims to address these needs by providing intelligent support exactly where it's needed in the care workflow.

The startup's presence in Y Combinator's latest batch provides them with mentorship, resources, and access to a network of investors and advisors. While the company hasn't disclosed funding details yet, their inclusion in YC suggests they're building something that resonates with the program's thesis of solving meaningful problems with scalable technology.

For healthcare providers struggling with data integration and operational efficiency, Pelica represents a potential solution that combines deep domain expertise with sophisticated AI capabilities. As they continue to build their team and develop their platform, the healthcare industry will be watching to see if they can deliver on their ambitious promise of becoming the operating system for value-based care.