Health Tech: Cano still in play

Health care automation startup Olive AI abruptly fired its chief financial officer and chief product officer last week, as more leaders leave the company, sources tell Erin.

Why it matters: Olive, valued at $4 billion by top investors like Tiger Global and General Catalyst, was the upstart darling of health care automation — a process intended to cut costs and put more resources toward patient care. But it’s had a difficult year amid questions about its software’s efficacy and earlier executive departures.

• The firings of CFO Ali Byrd and CPO Rohan D’Souza on Friday were “very sudden,” six sources, including two current employees, tell Axios.
• The company did not give a reason to current staff as to why either leader was let go, the sources said.

Flashback: In the summer of 2021, Olive raised $400 million in a Series H round led by Vista Equity Partners with support from Intermountain Ventures, Tiger Global, Base10 Partners and other undisclosed backers.

• Axios in April published an investigation alleging the company’s promises to save health systems millions of dollars with its automation software don’t deliver, based on documents and interviews with 16 people.

Yes, and: Several other C-level staff members also left or announced they were leaving Olive this month:

• President Jeremy Friese; senior director of operations Casey Langwith, EVP of operations Michael Burnett; and SVP of payer product strategy Jeremiah Rothschild have all departed.

Catch up fast: Byrd and D’Souza joined Olive in 2020, per LinkedIn. Before Olive, D’Souza was VP and head of product at health care software company Advata (formerly KenSci). And Byrd was a founding managing partner at venture firm Towerview Ventures.

What they’re saying: In an emailed statement, an Olive spokesperson confirmed the departures of the CFO, CPO and president.

• “On Friday, we announced the departure of Ali Byrd and Rohan D’Souza … We are grateful for all that Ali and Rohan have contributed to the growth of Olive, and the work of their respective teams will continue to be a priority. [President] Jeremy Friese will also be transitioning out of Olive and we are thankful for the remarkable impact he has made,” the email read.
• The company did not respond to questions about the other departures or about why Byrd or D’Souza were fired.