Oliver Keown, founder of Oath SurgicalA new health care startup has launched in Portland, Oregon, with a bold claim: Complex surgery can be done with a “tech-first” approach that’s no longer tethered to the hospital setting.
Oath Surgical is launching with a tech-first ambulatory surgery center (ASC) model and a proprietary operating system called OathOS – and it’s already planning a national rollout.
“Oath’s thesis is that most higher-acuity procedures can be safely and effectively delivered in ASCs, if the right clinical standards, vetted surgeons, technology, and data and analytics are in place,” Oath founder Oliver Keown told ASC News in an email. “That’s what Oath is building. We’re not just layering software on top of the old system, we’re creating a new one that supports the safe delivery of complex surgery outside the hospital.”
Within its first year, Oath Surgical acquired two ASCs, initiated development of a third de novo center and built a national network of surgeon partners.
The company has raised over $10 million in funding from venture firms including Oxford Science Enterprises, Black Opal Ventures, Rogue VC, Tau Ventures and First Spark Ventures.
Oath’s existing Portland centers already offer a range of surgical services across general surgery, gynecology, GI, urology, ENT and orthopedics. A core goal of the company is to expand access for specialties that have historically been excluded from the ASC setting due to financial constraints, Keown said.
“What’s exciting is that we’re bringing specialties into ASCs that traditionally haven’t had access, because they weren’t seen as profitable,” Keown said. “We’re flipping that script. By enabling Oath Surgeons with better infrastructure, technology, and integrated AI tools, we’re unlocking both clinical excellence and financial sustainability.”
OathOS is the company’s full-stack operating system built specifically for surgical care, Keown said.
“It’s embedded in everything Oath and our surgeons do, from intake and referrals to post-op outcomes,” he said. “Right now, our surgeons are actively using AI-supported tools like automated charting and real-time AI scribes during patient consultations. It saves hours per week and dramatically reduces administrative burden.”
The platform also handles personalized education for patients and automatically triggers preoperative workflows to eliminate last-minute paperwork, he said.
“The AI isn’t flashy, it’s quietly doing the burdensome and, sometimes, complex work behind the scenes to make things smoother, faster, and safer for both patients and providers,” he said.
Every ASC in the Oath network is co-owned by the physicians who operate there, a structure that Keown said fosters both clinical and economic alignment, he added.
“That alignment is critical, not just culturally, but economically,” he said. “We believe where a surgeon practices should generate value for them, not just the system.”
Oath is starting with regional focus in Portland but has national ambitions, Keown said. The company is taking a deliberate approach to expansion, with plans to build depth in target markets rather than scatter individual centers across disparate locations.
“Our goal is to build durable regional networks, not just drop standalone centers into isolated zip codes,” he said. “That’s how we scale value-based surgical care the right way.”
