Vlad Andriescu
Medic Chat has strategically prepared the investment round by ensuring an anchor investment of €75,000 from Cleverage Venture Capital, an experienced VC, with over 100 years cumulated partners’ experience in healthcare and health-tech, know-how, and relevant network in Central and Eastern Europe. Among Cleverage partners: Wargha Enayati, Regina Maria founder, Georgios Sofianos, an entrepreneur in the health industry and CEO of Sofmedica, Sergiu Neguţ, business angel and co-founder Fintech OS, Voicu Oprean, founder AROBS Transilvania Software and Alexandru Popescu, C-level executive with over 20 years experience in the healthcare industry. “Our expertise is to select and support successful health-tech projects. We’ve analyzed the entire telemedicine start-ups scene in Romania, and we appreciate Medic Chat’s distinct positioning, this being the main reason behind our choice to invest. Moreover, the key decision factor has been the founders’ experience, both in the tech and entrepreneurial field”, Alexandru Popescu, Partner Cleverage VC.
The start-up has also obtained a €12,500 de euro investment from Jay Chowdhury, Angel Investor from US, with whom the team has collaborated in the past. He brings important product development and digital marketing experience, with a network that can prove valuable both in the context of a new round of investment and a potential entry into the US market.
“I’ve been keen to follow the progress of Medic Chat since Cosmin first pitched me the idea. The opportunity is huge, so I’m super excited to be involved in the coming years and to offer any support in trying to extend the model here in the US where healthcare costs are absurd”, Jay Choudhury, entrepreneur and angel investor, US.
“We’ve been preparing this first round of investment since last year. It was a priority for us to access “smart money”, choosing investors that can support our future growth, with relevant know-how and an important network in the healthcare industry, in Romania, Europe, and US”, states Emilian Rădoi, co-founder Medic Chat.
In its three years of activity, the platform has demonstrated market validation through an accelerated growth rate, reporting 12X higher revenue in 2020 compared to 2019, thus exceeding €56,000. Currently, the app has over 50,000 user accounts and a network of over 200 doctors, covering 40 medical specialties.
“The idea emerged after a skiing accident when my knee ligament was broken and I needed medical advice regarding a risky invasive intervention. I was surprised to discover how difficult it is to reach a specialty doctor, even for a couple of specific inquiries. You need an appointment, made at least a few days in advance, and for any unclarities, your only alternative is to google it. Our vision is that getting access to quality medical advice should be as easy as ordering an Uber or making a reservation on Airbnb”, says Cosmin Dumitrache, Co-founder Medic Chat.
Medic Chat is very easy to use, it works as a question-answer chat, and doctors usually reply in a few hours. For each doctor, the user can find professional information such as education, experience, and user feedback. The price for asking a question starts from €6-8, from which the platform takes a commission. The main differentiator is represented by the large selection of specialty doctors available in a short time.
“Health-tech can be considered a “trendy” vertical, but the truth is that it follows a trend that has only started. We’re witnessing a start-up offensive, where each is targeting a specific segment. Will there be consolidations? For sure. In any case, those who force a niche such as Medic Chat, can only win if they execute their plans well”, said Andrei Dudoiu, CEO SeedBlink.
€3.2 million valuation
For the €162,500 targeted on SeedBlink, Medic Chat founders are offering approximately 4.7% of the shares, the company valuation being €3.2 million pre-money.
“Our product has proved its efficacy and is successful on a market with huge potential. Our desire now is to accelerate growth. The listing on SeedBlink will allow us to grow our marketing, operations, and engineering teams. With this investment, we aim to achieve a 20X revenue growth in under two years. Long-term, considering international expansion over a 5-year timeframe and a 4-5X yearly growth rate, we believe this could become a €100 million/year revenue business”, says Emilian Rădoi.
Next year, the start-up plans to grow in the Romanian market, validate the model on 1-2 international markets, and expand by adding related services, such as nutrition, psychotherapy, and veterinary medicine.
In this regard, the start-up has already validated the veterinary medicine segment by successfully launching Vet Chat in November 2020, which brought revenue from day one.
“An important factor is that we benefit from sustained market growth, which has been accelerated by Covid. The market was already on an ascending trend with a 20% CAGR. In 2020 it reached stellar 90% growth, due to accelerated adoption by the three key factors: consumers, doctors, and government/legislation. Post-Covid, the market is projected to sustain a slightly increased pre-pandemic growth rate of over 25%, which will surge the market to over 396 billion dollars by the end of 2027. This trend affirms the immediate opportunity of the health-tech segment”, adds Emilian Rădoi.
