Exclusive: Nelly raises $16M Series A for European health billing

Patient check-in and billing tool developer Nelly raised a €15 million ($16.4 million) Series A, CEO Niklas Radner tells Axios exclusively.

Why it matters: Despite numerous policy proposals and recommendations, the EU — like the U.S. — lacks a unified electronic health record system, creating a mammoth opportunity for tech-forward upstarts like Nelly.

Deal details: Lakestar led the round. B2venture and Motive Ventures joined.

• Berlin-based Nelly will use the capital to develop additional products, deepen its fintech capabilities and expand into new sectors of the medical market.
• Radner says he foresees the company raising a Series B "within the next one-to-two years, depending on our growth."

How it works: Nelly offers GDPR-compliant, virtual tools for patient admission, billing and payment.

• Its tools integrate with existing practice management systems so patients can conduct registration, fill out medical history, sign documents and pay bills on a smartphone.
• The company charges practices a monthly fee of roughly €170 ($184) and adds a fee for each invoice of about 2.5-3.5%.

Where it stands: Nelly's platform is in use by 450 practices representing roughly 350,000 patients, and has thus far digitized some 3 million documents, says Radner.

What they’re saying: "Our goal is to become the major financial management software for the health care space," Radner says.

• "No platform has defined itself around becoming a financial operating system for health care," says Lakestar principal Akis Bratsos.
• "We’ve been looking for a company to solve this in the European market, where we're trying to understand if there are companies that can scale beyond one country's borders."

The intrigue: As in the U.S., transitioning providers accustomed to paper-based forms to a digital system will take time.

• "There are providers who’ve worked a certain way for 20 years, and now we come in and say, 'We have something new for you,'" says Radner. "It’s emotional."

State of play: Nelly's closest European rivals include several venture-backed companies that focus on one of the categories Nelly is aiming to span.

• Doctolib, a French developer of patient appointment scheduling and referral tools, last March raised $549 million at a $6.4 billion valuation.
• DocPlanner (ZnanyLekarz), a Polish medical appointment scheduling platform, in 2021 received an undisclosed amount of Series F round following an $89.8 million Series E in 2019.

This story has been corrected to reflect the latest amount the company raised before this story was published from €12.5 million to €15 million.