Healthcare tech start-up raises over £5mil to build “digital hospital” for patients
Medbelle, a healthcare technology company based in London and Berlin, has raised more than £5.3 million in Series A funding to build a cost-effective and transparent “digital hospital.”
The round was led by Signals Venture Capital, alongside participation from Talis Capital, Mutschler Ventures, IBB and Cavalry Ventures.
Established in 2016 by Leander de Laporte and Daniel Kolb, Medbelle aims to digitise the patient journey and provide medical treatments in a more modern, convenient and consumer-focused way. Described as a “digital hospital,” the company lets patients book a number of medical procedures through its web and app-based platform.
Presently, the healthcare start-up only works with private patients, but hopes to work with the NHS and private and public health insurance providers to expand its reach in the future.
“Our vision is to create a world in which all patients can navigate their treatment journey digitally and receive personal care at the click of a button,” Leander told TechCrunch. “There is a massive lack of digitisation and patient care for medical procedures and little sight of someone changing this entirely. This results in a lack of quality and price transparency, bad communication and patients feeling left alone and neglected in their treatment journey.”
As well as causing issues for patients, Leander feels that this lack of digitisation is also problematic for healthcare providers who lack the tools to operate efficiently, leading to frustrations and avoidable healthcare costs.
To overcome this issue, Medbelle’s digital offering — which consists of the Medbelle Platform, Medbelle Care and Medbelle Operating System — aims to provide patients with more control over their provision while giving healthcare professionals access to tools covering the entire treatment journey: from the first consultation to post-operative care.
“Patients book their procedure with us, which provides them with prices and a selection of leading, pre-vetted specialists and state-of-the-art operating facilities – with all organisation taken care of by the platform,” Leander explained. “Once a patient is registered, every aspect of their treatment is accessible via a single, simple web portal and app, or through their own personal Medbelle Care Adviser.”
Leander added that the digital hospital ensures that both patients and doctors get everything they need from a single source.
He also stressed that another benefit of the digital hospital is that it can provide patients with a more affordable and transparent service.
“[Patients] can choose between transparently displayed options of very rigorously vetted specialists and operating facilities, compare options and prices and save money right away as we offer consultations with the specialists for free — even from the comfort from their own home via video consultations,” he continued. “Apart from that, our technology standardises processes and cuts operational costs which make our economics more competitive.”
Clemens Koós, Investment Manager at Signals Venture Capital, concluded: “Major digital platforms improve customer experience in almost all industries, however, in healthcare, the digitisation of patient journeys has been heavily lagging behind until now.
“Medbelle’s technology and personalised care enable much simpler and more affordable medical treatments – while allowing healthcare providers to efficiently focus on treating patients. We look forward to working with the Medbelle team and co-investors in expanding the platform to include more treatment specialities and increasing its reach.”