Four years ago, Watsi became YC’s first non-profit. They’ve since raised over $7.5 million to fund life-changing healthcare for more than 10,000 patients in 24 countries.

Today, we’re excited to announce that YC Research is funding Watsi for a project that will study using technology to improve the quality and reduce the cost of healthcare. Currently, up to 40% of all healthcare funding is wasted on operational inefficiencies, fraud, and ineffective care. Watsi’s goal is to improve the efficiency of funding, making universal healthcare possible.

For the initial project, Watsi will fund primary healthcare for a community in the developing world and build a platform to run the system transparently. Once the platform is in place, Watsi will start to experiment with improving the quality of care and reducing the cost – e.g., by streamlining operations, minimizing waste and fraud, and identifying medical errors in real-time.

If this works, Watsi plans to make the software available to governments to fund healthcare more effectively and provide universal healthcare for their citizens.

If you’re interested in getting involved, email connect@watsi.org.