# Cedar

> Cedar is a New York-based healthcare financial technology company that helps hospitals, physician groups and payers modernize the way patients understand and pay their medical bills. Founded in 2016 by Florian Otto and Ariel Lidow, Cedar combines consumer-grade digital billing, personalized payment plans, coverage and benefits tools, and AI-powered support - including its Kora AI voice agent - into a single patient financial engagement platform. It works with more than 55 leading health systems and payers, has processed billions of dollars in patient payments, and reached a $3.2 billion valuation after a 2021 Series D.

- **Founded:** 2016
- **Headquarters:** New York, New York, United States
- **Founders:** Florian Otto (Co-Founder & CEO), Ariel Lidow (Co-Founder)
- **Team size:** Approximately 420 employees
- **Products:** Cedar Pay, Cedar Pre, Cedar Cover / coverage tools, Kora AI Voice Agent, Cedar Intelligence
- **Notable:** Reached a $3.2 billion valuation after a $200M Series D in 2021., Acquired OODA Health for $425M to bridge payers and providers., Raised more than $590M in total funding across four rounds.

## Products & services

- **Cedar Pay** — End-to-end patient billing and payments platform that personalizes statements, offers flexible payment plans, and lets patients pay across web, mobile and phone (including FSA/HSA support).
- **Cedar Pre** — Pre-visit engagement that sets payment expectations before care by personalizing out-of-pocket cost estimates and presenting the right payment options and calls to action.
- **Cedar Cover / coverage tools** — Coverage and benefits capabilities - built on the OODA Health acquisition - that help patients find financial assistance, Medicaid/ACA eligibility and unused benefits, connecting payer and provider data.
- **Kora AI Voice Agent** — Agentic AI voice agent purpose-built for healthcare billing, developed with Twilio, that resolves patient billing questions 24/7 and is designed to automate roughly 30% of inbound calls.
- **Cedar Intelligence** — Proprietary AI layer trained on Cedar's healthcare billing data that powers personalization, patient support and operational automation across the platform.

## Achievements

- Reached a $3.2 billion valuation after a $200M Series D in 2021.
- Acquired OODA Health for $425M to bridge payers and providers.
- Raised more than $590M in total funding across four rounds.
- Helped Novant Health add $30M in patient revenue in a single year with a reported 9x ROI.
- Launched Kora, an AI voice agent purpose-built for healthcare billing, in 2025.
- Named a top healthcare technology company and grew to 55+ provider and payer partners.

## Latest updates

- **2025-04** — Cedar launched Kora, an AI voice agent purpose-built for healthcare billing, developed with Twilio and first live with ApolloMD, targeting a 30% reduction in inbound billing calls.
- **2022-08** — Cedar and Novant Health reported the partnership added $30M in patient revenue and cut time to payment resolution by 43% over 12 months.
- **2021-05** — Cedar agreed to acquire OODA Health for $425M, expanding into the payer market and coverage/benefits.
- **2021-03** — Cedar closed a $200M Series D led by Tiger Global at a $3.2B valuation.

## Links

- Website: https://cedar.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cedar-inc.
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/CedarNY
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/CedarNY/

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/cedar
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-22