Nelly raises $51 million to digitalize medical practices across Europe

Nellie Aspires to be the largest fintech startup in the healthcare industry. The Berlin-based startup already works with more than 1,200 medical practices in several European countries. But there are thousands more who could benefit from an upgrade to their administrative workflow.

That’s why Nellie recently raised €50 million (about $51 million at current exchange rates) in a Series B round led by Cathay Innovation with Notion Capital. Existing investors b2venture, Lakestar, Motive Ventures and Arc Investors again participated.

While many industries have fully switched to digital workflows, Nelly’s founding team realized that many medical practices were lagging behind. “I went to the doctor, I had to fill in all my data with pen and paper. And then four weeks later, I got a fat letter with a request to pay €120,” Nelly co-founder and CEO Niklas Radner told TechCrunch.

The company started with a software-as-a-service product that allows new patients to digitally practice medicine. Patients book an appointment and then receive a confirmation message via SMS, WhatsApp or email with a link. They can click on that link and fill in their personal details and medical history.

“But the reality today is that more than 50% of all appointments are still not scheduled digitally. They are scheduled by a phone call or just by walking into the practice,” Radner said. So patients can scan a QR code to open Nellie’s portal from the waiting room.

Behind the scenes, Nellie integrates with existing practice management systems. Data is updated and stored in these legacy systems so that practices do not have to switch completely to a new system. These connectors are either developed in-house by the Nellie team or developed by Nellie’s partners

This onboarding system serves as the backbone for the rest of the product suite. “You can look at Nellie as, let’s say, a typeform/docusign/designer for a medical practice,” Radner said.

On the patient side, in addition to online booking and onboarding features, patients can make online payments or practice treatments using a Nelly-managed card reader. Patients can also get reminders to do a review on Google Maps.

For medical practices, Nellie can manage invoices and billing. This segment can save significant time for medical practices, as it can spend less time chasing out-of-pocket payments.

Nellie can also be used as an alternative to a corporate bank account with an expense management system and corporate credit card. Finally, Nellie offers factoring for prompt payment of outstanding claims.

This strong integration into the patient journey and back-office systems of medical practices creates a barrier to entry for other fintech companies. Nellie has also gone through data protection certification. “We are the first company in Germany to send digital invoices to the medical space,” says Radner.

The product is currently available in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It recently expanded to Italy and there are more countries on the way.

“Nellie works with the largest DSOs [dental service organizations] In Europe … and we won the contract for Colosseum Dental Group, which operates in 11 European countries. And they want to scale to their 700 locations with Nellie,” Radner said. “So we are going to expand with our customers to more markets in Europe.”