Practice medicine, not paperwork.

This four-word mantra is the driving force behind Syntra, a growing startup utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to automate medical administrative tasks. The company recently got accepted into the prestigious Y-Combinator incubator program, a tremendous honor for fledgling companies with novel ideas and big dreams. Syntra is on the fast track to success led by its co-founders, two Duke University alumni.

Class of 2022 valedictorian Ayush Jain is one of these cofounders. 

Born and raised in Virginia Beach, Jain began his scholastic journey at Old Donation School, an elementary and middle school program for gifted students. At the end of eighth grade, he got accepted into the Math and Science Academy (MSA) and spent his high school career at Ocean Lakes. Many of the classes he took influenced his future accomplishments and academic pursuits.

“I learned to code in AP Computer Science A with Mr. Wheeler,” Jain said. “I would say that AP Statistics with Dr. Mangabat and AP Physics C with Mr. Isel were the most impactful classes for me.”

Isel met Jain at the beginning of his junior year during his Magnet Physics class, and Jain continued his pursuit of the subject by taking AP Physics C during his senior year.

“Ayush understood the value and recognized the importance of the sophisticated set of skills he was learning in AP Physics C,” Isel said. “His dedication and hard work made him one of my rock stars.”

Utilizing these skills, Jain embarked on multiple projects at the intersection of two of his passions: biology and healthcare. He went on to place fourth at the International Science and Engineering Fair for a project on computational drug development, and at the end of his senior year, he did machine learning research on a NASA project at Old Dominion University (ODU). This work set him up for success in his future ventures.

It’s important to know every aspect of your business well,” Jain said. “For example, if you are starting a tech company, you should know how to code and design.”

Soon after, he left to attend Duke University, a top-10 school with a solid reputation for innovation, good academics, and strong school culture.

During his time at Duke, he studied computer science and chemistry. He dove deeper into computational drug design with Duke AI Health. From 2023 to 2024, he was on the cutting edge of research with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and he was eventually named as a Duke Goldwater Scholar for his work. His exposure to biology and machine learning led to the conception of Syntra.

Jain met his cofounder, Aniketh Kolla, during his time at Duke. The two connected with their shared vision and began working on the project. They built their first prototype, an AI Biller, in one day. They realized that they had something special after they earned $100k in a month.

“I thought of the idea from talking to doctors in my network,” Jain said. “I decided to go all in after early traction and getting into Y-Combinator.”

Y-Combinator is a startup accelerator and business incubator that provides startups a small amount of initial seed funding to develop their ideas further. Through the program, businesses expand their horizons by securing capital, meeting investors and acquirers and improving their operations in general. It is a highly selective program, with only 250 companies being accepted per year. 

Jain and Kolla beat the 1% chance and got in.

So far, they have raised two million dollars in investments from companies like Duke Health Capital, Coinbase and more. They successfully implemented Syntra with two clinics and are working on exposing it to more professionals.

“If you know any private practice doctors, let me know, and I will demo our EHR (Electronic Health Record) to them,” Jain said.

In 20 years, Jain has accomplished more than many people accomplish in a lifetime, but he’s not stopping here. His vision is to make Syntra the universal companion for doctors to help them focus on the things that matter and leave the paperwork to the AI. To MSA senior project coordinator Allison Graves, his continued success does not come as a surprise.

“He was an incredibly poised presenter, very polished,” Graves said. “He had this great ability to see how the skills he brought to the table could solve a big problem, and it’s exciting to me that he’s continuing to share his talents.”

Because of his experience, Jain encourages other students to embrace the invention process.

“Build cool projects and try to get users,” Jain said. “Launch quick, and don’t be ashamed of your early versions.”