Japan’s health tech Ubie wants to fuel its US expansion with $19M Series C extension

This brings the health tech startups total funding to $45.2 million in Series C.The extension round consists of 90% equity and 10% debt financing, according to the co-founder and CEO of Ubie Kota Kubo. Investors in the latest funding include Sogo Medical, AAIC Investment, Japan Impact Investment, Rakuten Capital, Shoko Chukin Bank, Japan Finance Corporation and Mizuho Bank.Ubie plans to use the proceeds to scale up its healthcare platform and ramp up its penetration into the U.S. after entering Singapore in August. The startup launched its symptom checker app earlier this year in the U.S. and opened a U.S. subsidiary in October. Kubo told TechCrunch that Singapores medical system is similar to Japans, given its geographical and cultural background, so the company decided Singapore would be an appropriate first step for global expansion.The outlet is in discussions with pharma companies to increase partnerships, many of which have offices on the East Coast, Kubo explained. It expects to finalize and announce a handful of partnership deals early next year, Kubo added.Ubie isnt the only health tech company developing an AI-enabled symptom checker for users.