An App to Book Doctors Appointments Is Now Worth $1.1 Billion

(Bloomberg) -- Doctor-appointment booking app Doctolib has been valued at more than a billion dollars after raising new funding, adding to the surge of interest in health-care startups.

Founded in 2013, Doctolib operates a doctor's appointment-booking app and related management software, and has been growing services of video-based consultations and digital prescriptions, similar to Britain's Babylon Healthcare Services Ltd., and Doctor On Demand Inc. in the U.S.

Doctolib's 150 million-euro ($170 million) round announced Wednesday was led by U.S.-based growth equity investor General Atlantic, the startup said in a statement.

In France, Paris-based Doctolib is the latest unicorn technology upstart in a club that includes cloud storage supplier OVH Groupe SAS, car-sharing app Blablacar, and music streaming service Deezer SA. The latest round is Doctolib's third in just over two years, after the company acquired Lagardere's online medical platforms in France and expanded to Germany.

Fewer small businesses raised money in the EU last year compared to 2017, but the size of the average round got bigger, according to a data compiled by Tech.eu, which tracks VC activity. There were 2,975 funding rounds, for a total amount of 24.7 billion euros, the data showed.

Doctolib said it receives 30 million online visits from patients every month and has partnered with doctors and hospitals in France and Germany.

Existing shareholders Eurazeo SA and French state-backed fund Bpifrance participated in the new raise, Doctolib said in its statement. The company will use part of the money raised to expand to new countries.

To contact the reporter on this story: Marie Mawad in Paris at mmawad1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Giles Turner at gturner35@bloomberg.net, Nate Lanxon

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