PraxisPro raises $6M from AlleyCorp to train medical sales representatives

It all started in sales. This is where Cam Badger started his work at a pharmaceutical company. He expected to find structure and mentorship on the job, but instead found “fragmented training, inconsistent coaching, and no real way to scale learning in a meaningful way,” he told TechCrunch.

He spent four years as a sales representative, then a sales trainer, then worked at a medical startup where he met Hurugo Jiri. The two lamented about the overwhelming number of salespeople in life sciences companies such as pharmaceutical companies, medical device startups, etc. The duo decided to try to solve this problem, launching PraxisPro, a sales training platform specifically targeting medical fields.

He believes better salespeople will help get more treatments into doctors’ hands, which will ultimately help their patients.

“When commercial interactions with healthcare providers are ineffective, patients don’t get a fair shot at treatments that can meaningfully change their lives,” said Badger, the company’s CEO.

PraxisPro launches in 2023, though its first product isn’t released until 2025. The company on Wednesday announced a $6 million seed funding round led by AlleyCorp. Other companies in the round include FlyBridge, South Loop Ventures, and Zeal Capital Partners.

PraxisPro is platform independent that can also be integrated into enterprise software. She develops small language models trained on life sciences data to help every company navigate the nuance and context needed to interact with healthcare providers. From there, the company created an AI agent that helps the business sales team practice their communication skills before engaging with customers.

Communication is crucial in medical sales, Badger said. Many teams are concerned about compliance, as each company is responsible for ensuring that sales messages comply with legal frameworks. Aside from helping train sales reps to stay compliant, PraxisPro also hopes to help better implement it to communicate patients’ needs with healthcare providers.

Currently, a salesperson may have 15 interactions with a healthcare provider as part of the sales process. PraxisPro has a Conversational AI feature that allows salespeople to practice and plan these interactions and be better prepared for what the discussion typically entails, including any opposition that may arise.

There are other AI role-playing tools (such as Quantified and SmartWinnr), but Badger says his company is different because his company is trained on smaller datasets and is specifically focused on the life sciences sector. He said the new capital will be used for research and development.

In many ways, this was the tool he wished he had when he was still a salesperson all those years ago. He said he struggled and almost lost his job, but he managed to work his way up to become one of the company’s top performers. Now he wants to help others.

“If we can give commercial teams the ability to prepare, practice and engage at a higher level, consistently and responsibly, we not only improve business operations, we help ensure innovative treatments reach the patients who need them most,” he said.