The University of Tennessee Research Foundation’s (UTRF) Accelerate Fund has announced its second investment of $150,000 to VisualizAI, a pioneering artificial intelligence startup focused on revolutionizing health care claims processing.
Launched in 2023, the Accelerate Fund provides pre-seed and seed investment to support high-potential startups that bring the University of Tennessee’s (UT) innovations to the market. Previously, the fund invested in Orion Therapeutics, a biotechnology startup developing next-generation RNA medicines through a novel drug delivery system.
“VisualizAI is a great example of how UT-driven research can lead to real-world solutions that improve efficiency, accuracy and outcomes in critical industries like health care,” University of Tennessee System President Randy Boyd said. “We’re proud to support visionary faculty and startups like this through UTRF and the Accelerate Fund as part of our commitment to driving progress across Tennessee and beyond.”
VisualizAI was co-founded by Jian Huang, UT Knoxville’s Tickle College of Engineering professor, and Mac Bartine, its Chief Executive Officer. The company aims to commercialize UT’s AI-driven data visualization and analytics platform, which enhances knowledge capture, efficiency and accuracy in data-intensive professional settings.
UT Knoxville’s Chancellor’s Innovation Fund and UTRF’s Entrepreneurial Fellows Program were crucial in supporting Huang and his UT team, helping to de-risk the technology and develop a minimum viable product.
“These funding opportunities provided a platform for us to deploy our research in the real world and validate the most compelling use cases,” said Huang. “We’re in an exciting position—our platform has matured and already has pilot customers.”
“We’re thrilled about the momentum VisualizAI is building,” added Mac Bartine, CEO of VisualizAI. “This seed round investment from UTRF’s Accelerate Fund is pivotal in demonstrating the value offered to investors in our seed round and moving us forward in both our product and growth initiatives.”
At the heart of VisualizAI’s offering is ClaimsAgent, an AI system designed to give health care providers a strategic tool in claims processing. ClaimsAgent can analyze thousands of claims, identifying patterns in denials and underpayments—such as missing records or coding errors—and recommending corrective actions.
“UTRF is proud to invest in a startup using AI to transform health care claims processing,” said Maha Krishnamurthy, UTRF president. “Our investment will enable VisualizAI to advance its pilot trials, validate its technology, and demonstrate its impact to health care providers.”
Denied and underpaid insurance claims pose a significant challenge in health care, obstructing providers’ earned revenue and impacting their financial stability. In 2023, according to federal transparency data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, insurance companies denied 19% of in-network claims and 37% of out-of-network claims.
“Through AI, ClaimsAgent provides diagnostic, descriptive, prescriptive, and predictive support for health care claims processing,” said Huang. “Artificial intelligence is a powerful ally—doing tedious jobs at a higher volume and more efficiently than staff teams of many healthcare providers.”
VisualizAI seeks to raise a seed round of $500,000 to $1 million to accelerate its growth.
For more information on UTRF’s Accelerate Fund, visit https://utrf.tennessee.edu/utrf-accelerate-fund/ and for VisualizAI, visit https://visualiz.ai.