Owkin vs Butterfly Network

By valuation, Owkin is the larger company at $1B versus $957M — a 1x difference. Size can also be measured by team: Owkin employs 450 people while Butterfly Network has 500-1000 employees.

Butterfly Network has raised more in total funding at $370M, compared to Owkin's $354M — a gap of $16M. Combined, the two companies have completed 8 known funding rounds.

Butterfly Network leads with an Awaira Score of 85/100, while Owkin sits at 69/100. That 16-point gap reflects real differences in funding, scale, and traction — it's not a vanity metric.

Owkin was founded by Thomas Clozel in 2016. Butterfly Network was founded by John Martin in 2011. Visit each company's profile on Awaira for a full founder biography.

Owkin: Owkin is a French AI healthcare company founded in 2016 that develops federated learning and privacy-preserving machine learning technologies for drug discovery and clinical research. The company operates a distributed AI platform enabling pharmaceutical companies, biotech firms, and research institutions to collaborate on data analysis without sharing sensitive patient information or proprietary datasets. Owkin's core technology utilizes federated learning, allowing multiple parties to train machine learning models collectively while maintaining data privacy and regulatory compliance, particularly under GDPR and HIPAA frameworks. The company has raised $334 million in total funding and achieved a $1.0 billion valuation, positioning it as a significant player in the intersection of AI, privacy-tech, and healthcare. Owkin operates in the Series B stage and serves pharmaceutical companies seeking to accelerate drug development through collaborative AI while preserving data confidentiality. The platform addresses a critical challenge in healthcare AI: enabling large-scale machine learning without centralizing sensitive medical data. Owkin's approach contrasts with traditional cloud-based analytics solutions by maintaining data sovereignty at source institutions. The company has established partnerships across the pharmaceutical and research sectors, though specific customer names and financial metrics remain Not disclosed. Its growth trajectory reflects expanding demand for privacy-preserving AI solutions in highly regulated healthcare markets. Owkin combines federated learning with healthcare applications, enabling collaborative AI research without compromising data privacy or regulatory compliance across distributed pharmaceutical ecosystems. Butterfly Network: Butterfly Network produces the Butterfly iQ, a handheld ultrasound device powered by a proprietary semiconductor chip that replaces traditional piezoelectric transducer arrays with a single silicon chip capable of whole-body imaging. The AI software layer provides real-time image interpretation guidance, enabling clinicians with limited ultrasound training to perform diagnostic scans at the bedside.\n\nThe company is publicly traded on the NYSE under the ticker BFLY and raised over 700 million USD prior to and through its public listing. Butterfly has deployed devices across hospitals, emergency rooms, and point-of-care settings in over 50 countries, with particular penetration in resource-limited healthcare settings where traditional ultrasound equipment is prohibitively expensive or unavailable.\n\nPortable AI-assisted diagnostic imaging represents a structural shift in how and where medical imaging is performed. Butterfly Network has created a defensible position through its proprietary chip architecture, which competitors cannot easily replicate, and through its growing library of AI-assisted clinical guidance tools. The transition from hospital-based imaging to point-of-care diagnostics powered by AI guidance is a multi-decade trend that positions Butterfly at the center of a fundamental change in diagnostic medicine. Butterfly Network operates in the AI Healthcare sector and is headquartered in United States. Founded in 2011 by John Martin, Butterfly Network has raised $370M in total funding, achieving a valuation of $957M as of its latest round. The company's funding journey includes a Seed of $11.1M in 2011, a Series A of $29.6M in 2012, a Series B of $66.6M in 2014, a Series C of $114.7M in 2015, a Series D of $148M in 2016. With approximately 500-1000 employees, Butterfly Network has established itself as a Public-stage player in the AI Healthcare market. The company holds an Awaira Score of 85/100, reflecting its strong position across valuation, funding trajectory, team scale, and market influence. Butterfly Network competes in a rapidly evolving segment alongside other AI Healthcare companies. Based in United States, Butterfly Network is part of a growing international AI ecosystem attracting talent and investment. The AI Healthcare space has attracted significant investment in recent years, with companies racing to capture enterprise and consumer demand for AI-powered solutions.

Butterfly Network got there first, launching in 2011 — that's 5 years of extra runway. Owkin didn't arrive until 2016. In AI, that kind of head start means more training data, deeper customer relationships, and a bigger talent moat.

Owkin has about 450 employees; Butterfly Network has about 500-1000. A bigger team usually means more revenue or heavier VC backing, but in AI, small teams can build at massive scale.

Yes — they're direct rivals. Both Owkin and Butterfly Network compete in AI Healthcare, targeting many of the same buyers. If you're evaluating one, you should be looking at the other.