The Indonesian digital health start-up Alodokter announced on November 10, 2017 that it has raised US$ 9 million (€7.6 million) led by SoftBank Group Corp’s Korean venture capital unit, SoftBank Ventures Korea.
Nathanael Faibis, CEO and founder of Alodokter, said his company will use the new funds to » consolidate its leading position » on the market and develop a fully integrated healthcare ecosystem for patients to manage their lifestyle, chat with doctors, handle their medical records, or book offline medical services.
« We want our app to become top of mind for patients »
Venture capital firms Golden Gate Ventures (Singapore) and FengHe (Singapore and Shanghai) also participated in the round, the third after a US$ 2.5 million (€2.1 million) led by Golden Gate in 2016.
« We want our app to become top of mind for patients when they have a medical issue, » Mr Faibis said in a statement. By managing so much information about patients, doctors and service providers, we are gradually building a much more efficient solution than traditional methods to find the right solution for patients. »
Alodokter: a chat based on artificial intelligence
Alodokter set up in 2014 an artificial intelligence-assisted chat app with doctors. According to the group figures, it had answered more than 250,000 patients every month in Indonesia since its launch.
Over 16 million monthly active users, more than 350 doctors available
The device also offers content on health, well-being and family. Alodokter now boasts more than 16 million monthly active users.
More than 350 doctors are currently available on the platform. According to the firm’s CEO, the company is now gathering one of the largest databases of patient-doctor interactions in the world.
« Our big bet was that online market demand would go for chat interaction with doctors, » Nathanael Faibis said. « User reception has been very impressive. We believe that a mix a AI and real doctor interaction is the future of healthcare online. »
Telemedicine: An increased competition in Indonesia
Alodokter Group is also running a similar service in Thailand through Pobpad.com.
Several competitors have joined the market in Indonesia more or less recently, such as Dokter.id, MeetDoctor, KlikDokter, 1Health and Halodoc.
B2C market and digital health: An opportunity to take
Healthcare expenditure in Indonesia is expected to grow from US$ 26 billion in 2014 (€22 billion) to US$51 billion (€43 billion) by 2020, according to official figures.
The sector is currently dominated by out-of-pocket spending which accounts for about 75% of total market transactions. With such low insurance-covered expenditures, companies have an opportunity for direct-to-consumer play to optimize the value chain in healthcare.
A lot of international investors seem to be excited at this opportunity, given that such cost problems could be solved through advances in technology. Competition in the telemedicine market should therefore become tougher in the coming years.