Pranitha Patil, an Indian American entrepreneur, took an unconventional path from Harvard to building a healthcare company now valued at $2.5 billion. Her journey began with a personal experience that changed the way she viewed healthcare and ultimately inspired her to pursue a more proactive approach to disease prevention.
Patil was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome and pre-diabetes in her early 20s. The experience led her to question why healthcare often focuses on treating problems after they emerge instead of identifying potential warning signs earlier. She began imagining a system that could give people a much more comprehensive understanding of their health before serious conditions developed.
While pursuing a master’s degree in design engineering at Harvard, Patil explored the possibility of creating such a platform. She initially believed a service combining extensive testing and preventive health information must already exist. When she could not find one that matched her vision, she decided to help build it herself.
Her meeting with Jonathan Swerdlin, who later became Function’s chief executive, helped turn the concept into a business. Patil eventually joined Swerdlin, Dr. Mark Hyman, Seth Weisfeld and Dan Swerdlin as part of the founding team. She left Harvard before completing her program to focus on launching the company.
Function became publicly available in beta in 2023. The platform was designed around the idea that a conventional annual physical provides only a limited view of a person’s health. Its services include access to more than 160 laboratory tests, advanced MRI and CT imaging, and AI-based analysis intended to help members interpret their health information.
According to Patil, the company initially concentrated on blood and urine testing but viewed those services as the starting point for a much larger health-data platform. The founders envisioned eventually combining laboratory results with medical imaging, wearable information and artificial intelligence.
Building that vision required convincing investors to support a concept before the complete product existed. Over time, investors backed the strategy, helping Function reach its current $2.5 billion valuation.
Patil now describes the company’s development as entering a second phase. The early period focused on establishing testing infrastructure and encouraging people to regularly monitor their health. The next stage is centered on turning the growing volume of health information into deeper, technology-driven insights.
Patil believes artificial intelligence could accelerate innovation in healthcare, an industry she considers slower to adopt technology than sectors such as finance. Her long-term ambition is particularly expansive: Function aims to make its preventive healthcare approach accessible to billions of people worldwide.
