Push Doctor Secures $26.1M Series B Funding to Expand AI-Driven Digital Health Platform

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat)It is reported that UK-based telemedicine company Push Doctor recently secured $26.1 million in Series B financing, bringing its total equity funding to over $37.5 million.

This round of financing was led by Accelerated Digital Ventures and Draper Esprit.In January 2016, Push Doctor secured $10.2 million in Series A financing, led by Oxford Capital Partners, with participation from Draper Esprit and Partech Ventures.

The funds raised to date will be used to expand the development of digital health services and applications, aggregate prescription data for relevant conditions, and leverage artificial intelligence technologies to further build automated features for digital health applications.

Push Doctor’s Funding History (Source: Crunchbase)

Push Doctor was founded in Manchester, UK, in 2013, with the aim ofConnect users with platform-registered doctors within 6 minutes, and claims to be Europe's largest online doctor consultation platform. It has over 7,000 GMC-registered partner doctors in the UK, providing consultation services from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week. Users can conduct video consultations as long as they have a smart device.

Online consultations on Push Doctor in just three steps:

1. Schedule a consultation with a doctor at your preferred time, or receive services immediately;

2. Use the app or visit the website to consult with platform-certified doctors;

3. Accept medical consultations and prescription issuance.

Push Doctor was founded by Eren Ozagir and Matt Elcock, who serve as the company’s CEO and CTO, respectively.Both founders come from the retail industry and have previously worked at musicMagpie.——A UK-based website for purchasing technology, fashion, entertainment products, and electronics.The founding of Push Doctor stemmed from Ozagir’s experience during a business trip to the United States.

Eren Ozagir fell ill while on a business trip in the United States. Confined to his hotel room, he felt miserable—when suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind:"If you can hail a taxi, a boat, or even a helicopter through an app, why can’t you talk to a doctor on your smartphone in this day and age?"Starting from this humble idea, Eren Ozagir created a super-secure video application, beginning with the search for the best practicing doctors in the UK.

The Founding Team of Push Doctor

Eren Ozagir is currently the Founder and CEO of Push Doctor. He graduated from the University of Leeds in the UK, majoring in Media Studies. Prior to founding his company, he served as Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer at musicMagpie. Under Eren Ozagir’s leadership, musicMagpie achieved exponential growth over five years, scaling its annual revenue from zero to £100 million. Before that, Eren Ozagir worked at Music Zone, then the third-largest music retailer in the UK, where he launched a small online platform enabling users to buy and sell music. His earlier experience in digital marketing has equipped him with extensive expertise in marketing and e-commerce.

The other co-founder, Matt Elcock, is a technical expert specializing in IT. Elcock graduated from the University of Wolverhampton with a major in Computer Science. He previously served as the Head of IT at musicMagpie and held the position of Junior Manager in the European IT Department of Gap Inc., bringing extensive experience in the IT industry.

As colleagues, they each leveraged their respective strengths during the startup phase: Matt Elcock led research and development, while Eren Ozagi handled marketing and promotion. Their complementary skills helped propel Push Doctor to become one of the most popular health brands in Europe.

On the Push Doctor platform, users can access two types of services:First, users can seek consultations from platform-certified physicians via video calls, obtain prescriptions that are sent to the nearest pharmacy, and access medical record sharing services. Second, the platform provides referral services; when a user requires a specialist consultation, the platform’s physicians can promptly issue a referral letter to help the user quickly proceed to the next stage of treatment or evaluation.

Furthermore, Push Doctor has established a partnership with the NHS (National Health Service). All physicians certified through the platform have undergone NHS training and work at NHS clinics. Our cutting-edge technology enables them to seamlessly integrate Push Doctor consultations into their out-of-hours work.

Push Doctor utilizes video consultations to enhance efficiency and provide users with superior engagement, delivering an experience akin to an in-clinic visit. Regarding scheduling, users can either book video appointments at their convenience or opt for immediate service. This approach mitigates reluctance to seek hospital care due to time constraints or cumbersome procedures, encouraging users to take more proactive health measures while reducing healthcare costs. Consultation fees on the Push Doctor platform start from £20, with tiered pricing based on the number of consultations and the seniority of the attending physician.

Babylon：Babylon’s AI Doctor is a telemedicine app launched by the UK-based digital health company Babylon Health, designed to provide users with round-the-clock medical consultation services through AI technology. Users can access medical care anytime and anywhere via the app—for instance, by chatting with an AI bot to inquire about symptoms, or by obtaining medical advice from online professional physicians through video or text consultations. Additionally, the app offers services such as health tracking and medication delivery. In certain respects, Babylon can be considered one of the more direct competitors to Push Doctor. (VCBeat has previously published a detailed report on Babylon; for details, please see “AI-powered healthcare platform Babylon Health brings AI doctors to users’ smartphones, making medical care readily accessible》）

Ada Health：Ada is an application launched by Ada Health, a startup founded in Berlin that also maintains a presence in London to serve UK residents. Ada is an AI-powered physician app that collaborates with the world’s leading research institutions to advance personalized medicine and intelligent diagnostic services, providing users with AI-driven health assessments and telemedicine services. Patients can download the app to chat with Ada, the AI bot, and receive assessment reports, or use Ada Doctor Chat to connect directly with Ada’s network of top-tier physicians, accessing professional medical advice from online doctors anytime, anywhere. Currently, Ada Doctor Chat is available exclusively to UK residents.

Nowadays, people often delay seeking medical attention due to lack of time or fear of long queues at hospitals, and some even develop a psychological resistance to visiting hospitals.Push Doctor, on the other hand, is precisely committed to delivering digital health services through an easy-to-use, consumer-centric interface, encouraging the general public to engage more actively in medical consultations and health management.Currently, the primary groups seeking consultations on Push Doctor are parents with children at home, white-collar workers, and students studying away from home.

In response, Eren Ozagir stated in an interview, “We hope to enable patients to obtain opinions from real doctors in person and provide them with convenience.” Push Doctor is a platform that offers users instant remote consultation services. “We believe that empowering patients to see a doctor anytime they need one can accelerate their recovery process. Every patient should have the option to access professional advice when needed,” said Eren Ozagir.

Regarding the Push Doctor app, Eren Ozagir, the company’s co-founder and CEO, stated that Push Doctor has specific strategies concerning data. The company plans to analyze diagnoses conducted through the app to identify user needs and trends in healthcare, covering both chronic conditions and acute illnesses. Based on these insights, it aims to implement preventive measures, such as recommending personalized exercise regimens and dietary plans to patients.

References:

http://www.mobihealthnews.com/content/uks-push-doctor-gets-261m-app-based-telemedicine-service

http://startups.co.uk/8-2m-for-online-gp-marketplace-pushdoctor/