Patient21, the fastest growing digit-physical healthtech in Europe has raised €100m in Series C funding. The round was led by new investor Pitango, joined by Bertelsmann Investments and Artian and supported by existing investors Target Global, Piton Capital, PICO Venture Partners and several high profile angel investors, including Mario Kohle and Maria Raga. Growth debt from IPF Partners, which constitutes a small part of the funding, has been secured to complement the equity raise. The investment will be used to drive the development of its transformative software platform and expand from Germany into further European markets.

Patient21 is reshaping the €1.38 trillion European healthcare sector, with a hybrid model that combines its self-developed software with a network of owned and operated physical clinics, enabling end-to-end control of the patient journey in contrast to digital-only solutions. The business was founded by serial entrepreneur Christopher Muhr (CEO), who has launched and exited several high profile tech companies, and Nicolas Hantzsch (COO). The pair came up with the idea from their own first-hand experience of the European healthcare system, having both undergone cancer treatment several years earlier.

With Patient21 the team is tackling two of the most pressing challenges in outpatient healthcare. The first is a lack of consistent data caused by a siloed landscape that negatively impacts doctors’ and patients’ ability to make smart, data-driven decisions. The second is an overwhelming amount of administrative burden resulting in less time spent with patients. With an initial focus on dentistry, Patient21’s solution is to move the entire patient journey on to one consolidated digital platform that powers a fast scaling network of its own clinics which today are handling more than 300,000 patient visits per year.

Patient21’s proprietary software stack covers every aspect of the patient experience from online booking, digital case history, check-in, diagnosis, treatment planning to clinical quality control. The company has also started work on AI-driven diagnostic support. Uniquely, all of Patient21s software tools are designed in close cooperation with their own practitioners, making it software designed by doctors for doctors. The software stack further enables patients to set up their own healthcare assistant to track their treatment process and monitor their clinical data, empowering them to play a more active role in their own healthcare journey. The resulting high degree of seamless digital automation allows the company to achieve high customer satisfaction and to run its clinics more efficiently which is key in an industry defined by staff shortages.

The company currently operates 53 outpatient clinics across Germany, achieving an average patient satisfaction score of 4.9 out of 5. With a current focus on dental services as the biggest of all outpatient specialties it has already become the fourth biggest dental provider in Germany by number of clinics operated and also owns several GP and women’s health clinics. Revenue has tripled in the last 12 months.

Chris Muhr, CEO and co-founder said: “The existing healthcare system puts a heavy administrative burden on doctors and clinical staff, reducing the time they can spend with their patients. In certain specialties, a doctor spends on average less than seven minutes with a patient during a visit. Our technology is built to enhance, not replace, in-person care as we believe people should be at the heart of it. This relieves our doctors and medical teams from time-consuming admin and frees them up to do what they are best at: taking care of patients. At the same time we are boosting patients' health literacy by providing them with their clinical data in a user-friendly way and allowing them to play a more proactive part in their healthcare journey.”

Rami Kalish, Managing Partner and co-founder at Pitango said: “The intersection between the physical and digital aspects of healthcare is essential to the success of the next wave of healthtech solutions. For too long, the healthcare industry has remained slow to adopt digital technologies, often defaulting to the use of outdated legacy systems. However, a fully digitised healthcare system would lack the vital one-to-one contact that both patients and medical professionals need. We see Patient21 as a healthcare-native tech company that is already reshaping the future of the industry and are very excited to be investing in that vision.”

Shmuel Chafets, Partner and co-founder at Target Global said: “There are very few businesses globally that will have a significant impact on the future of healthcare - and Patient21 is one of them. Its hybrid approach is unique and one that we are confident will set the benchmark in this sector for others to follow. Chris is an outstanding entrepreneur, an incredible visionary and someone that we have repeatedly invested in dating back to his Auto1 days. It is great to have Pitango, Artian and Bertelsmann join us on this latest round and we can’t wait to see what 2023 brings.”