French startup Doctolib just raised a $20 million Series B round from Accel and business angels. Doctolib is the leading platform to book doctor appointments online in France. With the new funding, the company plans to expand in other European countries.
“Our goal is to consolidate our leading position in France and expand to other European countries,” co-founder and CEO Stanislas Niox-Chateau told me. “We started 18 months ago, and we now have 5,000 doctors using our platform every day in order to manage their bookings. We have around a hundred clinics, and we get 2 million monthly unique visitors. When it comes to traction, we are adding 600 doctors per month, and we plan to double this number in the coming weeks.”
Business angels investing in today’s round include BlaBlaCar co-founder and COO Nicolas Brusson, PriceMinister founder Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet and LaFourchette co-founder and CEO Bertrand Jelensperger.
Doctolib has found a sweet spot — there are 8 billion doctor appointments per year in Europe, and many doctors are willing to pay to spend less time managing their calendars. “This market is 20 times bigger than restaurant reservations,” Niox-Chateau said.
Now, it’s just a matter of expanding as quickly as possible to capture the market. The company employs 120 people and plans to have 500 employees in less than three years. Part of the team will work on the product, marketing, growth and other usual startup jobs. But a significant part of the team will also be on the ground talking with doctors to help them switch to Doctolib.
“We are a booking management software — 100 percent of our health professionals use our software,” Niox-Chateau said. Doctolib isn’t just a lead-generating platform referencing all the doctors around you. It’s a brand new platform to manage all your bookings. Doctors are exclusively using Doctolib’s software once they switch.
And there are many advantages. Doctors spend less time on the phone scheduling appointments. No shows are less likely with Doctolib as the platform sends you text and email reminders. The company says that no shows for scheduled visits decrease from 10 percent to 2.5 percent once you use Doctolib. And finally, new patients find out about a dentist, a GP or a surgeon using Doctolib. All of this costs $110 per month (€99); there are no tiered options.
The startup complies with French law when it comes to hosting confidential health data. Patients can also see when your doctor is available on Doctolib’s website. This is a much better experience than having to call first.
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