A Swedish digital healthcare firm is looking to launch its video-call-a-doctor service in other European markets including the UK after raising $66 million (£49.5m).
KRY, which lets you see a healthcare professional within 15 minutes via your smartphone or tablet, raised the cash in a Series B funding round led by venture capital firm Index Ventures with participation from existing backers Accel, Creandum and Project A.
The start-up was launched less than two years ago and claims to have already had over 350,000 ‘patient meetings’ in Sweden, Norway and Spain and grew by 740 per cent in 2017.
“We are going to make the world a healthier place by providing equal access to hassle-free high quality care – regardless of where you live or who you are,” said co-founder and CEO Johannes Schildt.
KRY currently accounts for over 3 per cent of all primary care doctor visits in Sweden and has over 300 clinicians working in the service.
The company will use the fresh funding to launch in other European markets, including France and the UK, although it did not provide a timeline for these plans.
“We are happy that Index Ventures and our other investors share that great ambition,” Schildt added.
“Using digitalisation we will push through a paradigm shift in healthcare. From being expensive, reactive and system oriented we will make healthcare abundant, proactive and patient focused.”
The KRY app, which is available on iOS and Android, allows people to select a suitable time for a video-based appointment with a doctor.
Prior to the call, the patient describes their symptoms in writing, uploads relevant pictures, and responds to symptom-specific questions. At the scheduled time, the doctor calls the patient through the app to start the video consultation.
Martin Mignot, partner at Index Ventures, said: “KRY has already become a household name in Sweden where regulators have seen first-hand how it benefits patients and allowed Kry to become an integral part of the public healthcare system.
“We are excited to be working with Johannes and his team to bring KRY to the rest of Europe.”