For independent physicians, running a medical practice increasingly means running a small business with a very large paperwork problem. Between insurance claims, billing disputes, rising costs, and a growing list of software vendors, doctors can find themselves spending as much time managing their practices as treating patients.
For many, the solution has been to sell to a hospital system or larger healthcare company. But a startup with roots in Miami and New York thinks physicians deserve another option.
Sunlight AI emerged from stealth this week with $17.4 million in seed funding, its first acquisition, and an ambitious goal: make independent medical practices competitive with large healthcare organizations, without requiring doctors to give up ownership.
The round was led by Lan Xuexhao, founder of Basis Set Ventures, with participation from Sofeon Ventures, Social Leverage, Actions Capital, Overlook Ventures, Early Light Ventures, and several healthcare investors and technology founders.
For founder and CEO Sina Chehrazi, the problem is personal.
His father, Barry Chehrazi, has spent decades practicing as an independent neurosurgeon. Growing up, Chehrazi saw firsthand how much work went into keeping a medical practice running, particularly when it came to getting paid for services already delivered.
That experience later took on another meaning when he founded Nayya Health, a benefits technology company that helps more than five million employees make better use of their healthcare coverage. There, he witnessed employers struggling with rising healthcare costs.
“I grew up seeing what getting paid costs a practice, and at Nayya I saw rising healthcare costs squeeze employers every year,” Chehrazi said in the company’s launch announcement.
Sunlight’s approach is to take responsibility for much of the business infrastructure that keeps a medical practice operating. Rather than offering another standalone tool, the company combines AI, technology infrastructure, and human support to handle administrative work, improve payment collections, and free up physicians to see more patients.
The timing reflects a larger shift in American healthcare. Hospitals and corporate entities acquired more than 85,000 physician practices between 2018 and 2026. Just 18% of physicians remain independent.
That consolidation has consequences for patients, too. Research from Yale University and the National Bureau of Economic Research found that physician prices increased 15.1% within two years of hospital acquisitions, without measurable improvements in care quality.
Sunlight is betting that better business operations could help reverse that trend.
Alongside its funding announcement, the company revealed its acquisition of Bradford Medical Associates, the first in a planned series of acquisitions of businesses serving independent physicians. The strategy combines established healthcare service providers with newer AI systems.
Chehrazi also confirmed on LinkedIn that Sunlight’s operating system had launched across all 50 states.
“The era of the ‘indie’ begins,” he wrote.
“Thousands of indies working together – using the latest technology – is an opportunity to rebuild healthcare for all of us and the people we care about.”
It’s a compelling vision for an industry that has spent years moving in the opposite direction. Sunlight believes independent physicians can gain the advantages of scale by sharing technology and business infrastructure, while maintaining control of their practices.
Chehrazi’s father now serves on Sunlight’s Independent Medicine Advisory Board, bringing the company’s origin story full circle.
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