Nelly raises $51 million to digitize medical practices across Europe
Nelly It wants to become the largest fintech startup in the healthcare space. The Berlin-based startup already works with more than 1,200 medical practices in a few European countries. But there are thousands of other people who could benefit from upgrading their administrative workflow.
That’s why Nelly recently raised €50 million in funding (about $51 million at current exchange rates) in a Series B round led by Cathay Innovation, along with Notion Capital. Existing investors b2venture, Lakestar, Motive Ventures and Arc Investors also participated again.
While many industries have fully transitioned to digital workflows, Nelly’s founding team realized that many medical practices were lagging behind. “I went to the doctor, and I had to fill out all my information with pen and paper. “Four weeks later, I received a thick letter asking me to pay 120 euros,” Niklas Radner, co-founder and CEO of Indigo, told TechCrunch.
The company started with a software-as-a-service product that allows medical practices to digitally onboard new patients. Patients book an appointment and then receive a confirmation via SMS, WhatsApp or email with a link. They can click on this link and fill out their personal information and medical history.
“But the reality today is that more than 50% of all appointments are still not scheduled digitally. They are scheduled by phone call or by simply walking into the practice,” Radner said. That’s why patients can also scan a QR code to open the Nelly portal. From the waiting room.
Behind the scenes, Nelly integrates with existing practice management systems. Data is updated and stored in these legacy systems so practices don’t have to switch to an entirely new system. These connectors are created internally by the Nelly team or developed by Nelly partners.
This setup system acts as the backbone for the rest of the product range. “You could see Nelly, for example, as a Typeform/DocuSign/planner for medical practices,” Radner said.
On the patient side, in addition to online bookings and onboarding features, patients can pay for medical practices using online payments or card readers operated by Nelly. Patients can also receive reminders to leave a review on Google Maps.
As for medical practices, Nelly can handle billing and invoicing. This part can save medical practices significant time, as it can result in less time spent chasing out-of-pocket payments.
Nelly can also be used as an alternative to a company bank account with a company’s expense management system and credit cards. Finally, Nelly offers factoring for immediate payments of outstanding claims.
These strong integrations into the patient journey and into the medical practice’s back-office system create a barrier to entry for other fintech companies. Nelly has also obtained data protection certificates. “We are the first company to send digital invoices in the medical field in Germany,” Radner said.
The product is currently available in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. They recently expanded to Italy, and there are more countries on the way.
“Nelly works with the largest distribution service operators [dental service organizations] In Europe…we won the deal for the Colosseum Dental Group, which operates in 11 European countries. “They want to expand to their 700 locations with Nelly’s,” Radner said. “So we will expand with our customers to more markets in Europe.”
