Just 10 months after raising a $28 million round of venture capital, Paris-based Doctolib announced today that it has bagged another $42 million as it seeks to expand the international footprint of its online doctor-booking service.
Founded in 2013, Doctolib has now raised a total of $96.4 million and employs more than 300 people. That level of fundraising makes the company one of the most ambitious on the French Tech scene. But it also underscores the challenges facing Doctolib, or any startup, when it comes to transforming the health care industry.
Doctolib has become a huge presence in its home country and has already expanded to Germany. This new money will help it grow in the German market where, as in France, convincing doctors to sign up and attracting new patients is an intensive process.
“With this record fundraising in 2017, Doctolib has the means to pursue its European ambitions,” said Doctolib cofounder and president Stanislas Niox-Chateau, in a statement. “With no equivalent to Doctolib in Germany in terms of size, service, and product, we have the opportunity to become the leader in the market. Our objective is to become a standard service in Germany in the following months and to build the continent’s e-health leader by initially focusing on France and Germany.”
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Expansion to other countries in Europe is still over the horizon.
Still, the new funds are evidence of investors’s faith in the progress Doctolib has made thus far. The latest round includes money from Bpifrance, the public investment bank that accounts for the largest source of venture capital in France. In addition, investment company Eurazeo joined the round. Previous investors in Doctolib include Accel, PriceMinister cofounder Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet, and BlaBlaCar cofounder Nicolas Brusson.
Founded out of Paris in 2013, Doctolib offers a range of software services to enable doctors to manage bookings and communicate with patients online. The subscription-based model caters to a range of medical clients, from single-GP practices to entire hospitals, while it also serves to help patients find nearby doctors, make bookings, and track appointments around the clock.
Should Doctolib continue its momentum, it could eventually face competition from New York-based ZocDoc, which has raised more than $220 million. ZocDoc operates mainly in the U.S., and the size of its fundraising is also an indication of the big financial resources companies need to tackle the health care industry.
Closer to home in Europe, potential rivals include Poland’s DocPlanner, which has now raised $50.8 million. Luxembourg-based Doctena has raised about $5.4 million.
