# Ali Khokhar

> Ali Khokhar is the New York-based co-founder and CEO of Amigo, a platform for building, testing and deploying patient-facing clinical AI agents. After early product and growth roles at Google and a product leadership role at Upwork Labs, he started Amigo in 2023, first selling AI clones for expert service businesses before deliberately refunding those customers and moving the company into enterprise healthcare. Amigo announced a $6.3 million seed round in 2024 and an $11 million Series A in March 2026, bringing reported total funding to $17 million. Khokhar's public operating philosophy centers on paid validation, founder-led sales, simulation before deployment and a definition of AI trust built around control, alignment and observability.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Amigo
- **Organizations:** Amigo, Upwork Labs, Google
- **Education:** Bachelor of Commerce, Queen's University, Smith School of Business, International exchange through Queen's Commerce, Università Bocconi
- **Known for:** Co-founded Amigo and led it from a pre-product paid validation test to an enterprise AI company., Raised a $6.3 million seed round in 2024, co-led by General Catalyst and GSV Ventures., Raised an $11 million Series A in March 2026, led by Madrona with participation from Optum Ventures.

## Career timeline

- **2018-2019** — Worked in product marketing on Google's core advertising business.
- **2019-2021** — Moved into growth marketing on Google's consumer growth team.
- **2021-2023** — Served as a Product Lead at Upwork Labs, Upwork's internal incubator, building AI-native products focused on the future of work.
- **2023** — Left Upwork and began Amigo; collected paid deposits and a pilot before building the initial product, then partnered with co-founder and CTO John Xing.
- **2024** — Amigo emerged from stealth and announced a $6.3 million seed round co-led by General Catalyst and GSV Ventures.
- **2025** — Refocused Amigo around enterprise clinical AI agents and publicly described its simulation-first trust framework.
- **2026** — Amigo announced an $11 million Series A led by Madrona with participation from Optum Ventures, bringing reported total funding to $17 million.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Amigo and led it from a pre-product paid validation test to an enterprise AI company.
- Raised a $6.3 million seed round in 2024, co-led by General Catalyst and GSV Ventures.
- Raised an $11 million Series A in March 2026, led by Madrona with participation from Optum Ventures.
- Amigo reported more than three million autonomous patient encounters in the six months before its Series A announcement.
- Built early demand before code by collecting $499 deposits and securing a $10,000 pilot with a manually assembled demo.
- Led a deliberate shift from an SMB AI-clone product to enterprise clinical agent infrastructure, later reporting $2 million in ARR in under 12 months.

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — Amigo announced that Dr. Jay Shah joined as Chief Medical Officer to lead its clinical AI strategy.
- **2026-06** — Khokhar appeared on A Product Market Fit Show and described Amigo's pre-code validation, fundraising sprint, early community-led growth and enterprise pivot.
- **2026-03** — Amigo announced an $11 million Series A led by Madrona with participation from Optum Ventures and reported $17 million in total funding.
- **2026-03** — Amigo reported more than three million autonomous patient encounters during the prior six months.

## Links

- Website: https://www.amigo.ai
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khokharali

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/ali-khokhar
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-10