Nelly wants to be the biggest 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 Nelly recently raised €50 million (about $51 million at current exchange rates) in a Series B round led by Cathay Innovation, together with Notion Capital. Current investors b2venture, Lakestar, Motive Ventures, and Arc Investors also rejoined. 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, I had to fill in all the data with pen and paper. Then four weeks later, I received a bold letter with a request to pay €120,” founder and CEO Nelly Niklas Radner told TechCrunch. The company started with a software-as-a-service product that enables medical practice in new patients digitally. Patients make an appointment and then receive a confirmation message via SMS, WhatsApp, or email with a link. They can click on the link and fill in their personal details and medical history. “But the reality is that now more than 50% of all appointments are still not scheduled digitally. They are scheduled by phone or just walking into the practice,” said Radner. 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 this legacy system so practices don’t have to switch to a new system entirely. The connector is built in-house by Nelly’s team or developed by Nelly’s partners. This onboarding system acts as the backbone for the rest of the product suite. “You can look at Nelly as, let’s say, a Typeform/DocuSign/planner for medical practices,” Radner said. On the patient side, in addition to online ordering and onboarding features, patients can pay for medical practices using online payments or card readers managed by Nelly. Patients can also receive reminders to leave reviews on Google Maps. For medical practices, Nelly can handle invoicing and billing. This section can save medical practices significant time, as it can result in less time being spent chasing out-of-pocket payments. Nelly can also be used as an alternative to corporate bank accounts with expense management systems and corporate credit cards. Finally, Nelly offers factoring for quick payment of outstanding claims. Strong integration into the patient journey and into the medical practice’s back-office systems creates a barrier to entry for other fintech companies. Nelly has also passed data protection certification as well. “We are the first company to send digital invoices in the medical space in Germany,” says Radner. The product is currently available in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. It recently expanded to Italy, and there are more countries coming down the road. “Nelly works with the biggest DSO [dental service organizations] in Europe … And we won a deal for Colosseum Dental Group, which operates in 11 European countries. And they want to scale to 700 locations with Nelly,” said Radner. “So we will expand our customers to other markets in Europe.”
