Ask The Doctor Files Confidential IPO Prospectus, Aims to Surpass Google Health Search Within Five Years

VCBeat (WeChat: vcbeat) is here to share with you aAsk The Doctor’s global physician platform. Today, the platform can proudly announce that its users now span every country in the world, with the exception of North Korea!

Several entrepreneurs have had an epiphany: ensuring global access to high-quality medical services is a highly meaningful endeavor.

Here, the term “entrepreneurs” refers to the founders of “Ask The Doctor.” Established in Toronto, Canada, in 2010, this platform enables patients to quickly obtain advice from medical experts worldwide. In addition to asking doctors questions, users can anonymously upload their complete medical history, allowing physicians to make more comprehensive and well-informed clinical decisions. The best part is that all these services are provided free of charge!

The doctors answering questions come from all over the world. Unusually, in order to save costs and improve efficiency,There will be fewer and fewer human doctors answering questions above in the future.Ask The Doctor is developing “AI Doctors,” transforming them into experts who are better listeners, more adept at distilling key points from conversations, and capable of providing reliable medical advice than human physicians, thereby maximizing the democratization of information for ordinary users, patients, doctors, and the entire healthcare system.

The company’s team includes board-certified physicians, data scientists, developers, and other professionals. Although each member is highly accomplished, the team remains remarkably down-to-earth, as the company became in 2011Official Partner of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), they will also have access to the largest healthcare database in the United States. By identifying regional healthcare demands and unmet needs within the industry, they can gain insight into the public’s healthcare pain points and adjust their healthcare strategies accordingly.

Enter symptoms to receive a doctor’s response (Image source: AskTheDoctor.com)

So, how did the entrepreneurial idea for "Ask The Doctor" come about?

In 2006, Prakash Chand, now the company’s CEO, was chatting with his friend Dr. Suneel Sharman at a café in Toronto. Although Dr. Sharman had just graduated from the University of Toronto, many pharmaceutical companies had already heard of his academic prowess and frequently commissioned him to write articles, paying $300–$500 per piece.

Dr. Sharman thought this was a promising business opportunity and decided to move his operations fully online. He asked Chand to build a simple website to make it easier for pharmaceutical suppliers to find him online. Chand, however, was dismissive of the idea. Coincidentally, he had in hand a project called[AskTheDoctor.ca]the domain name, which he then conveniently used.

Six months later, both individuals had completely forgotten about the website’s existence. One day, Dr. Sharman suddenly called Chand to inquire about the website’s email account. They were stunned the moment they opened the inbox:There are more than 4,000 emails in total, but none are from pharmaceutical companies; they are all patient inquiries.—In other words, desperate patients searching for doctors saw this domain name and believed it was a website where they could receive responses from physicians. The two had an epiphany on the spot and embarked on an entrepreneurial journey to help patients.

Three years later, they purchased[AskTheDoctor.com], merging with the original [AskTheDoctor.ca] to embark on a global healthcare journey.

Image source: AskTheDoctor.com

During the 2006–2007 period when the startup idea was being solidified, CEO Prakash Chand traveled to Las Vegas to attend the bachelor party of a close friend who was a physician. With more than ten physician friends in attendance, Chand used the occasion to enthusiastically elaborate on his ambitious vision: to provide free medical advice to all humanity and to create the world’s largest knowledge base for medical Q&A.

Without a doubt, his friends looked at him as if he were crazy. They wanted to tell Chand that the idea was too impractical and that no doctor would be willing to perform it. But fast-forward seven years later, just asSeveral doctors among this group of friends have invested in Ask The Doctor.。

So, what unique role can the "Ask The Doctor" platform play?

It turns out that Ask The Doctor believes the greatest advantage of AI doctors over human physicians is their ability to allow patients to describe their conditions in detail, without interruption. The team found that physicians in North America interrupt patients on average every 12 to 23 seconds during consultations, which hinders patients’ complete expression and physicians’ comprehensive understanding. This is precisely why Ask The Doctor has been gradually evolving toward an AI-driven model.

The CEO stated that patients on the platform will no longer interact directly with human practitioners. Coupled with the option for anonymity, this will enable individuals to discuss sensitive issues more comfortably with AI doctors. The AI physicians being trained by Ask The Doctor derive their medical insights exclusively from certified healthcare professionals, a factor that is also expected to foster public trust.

Platforms like ZocDoc, an online doctor appointment website, are becoming increasingly prevalent. However, Ask The Doctor holds a distinct advantage: its technology enables doctors from any corner of the globe to assist patients anywhere in the world, powered by AI technology supported by big data and medical professionals.

Image source:medicalplatform.pl

The ultimate goal of Ask The Doctor is to make medical advice more accessible to the global population of 7 billion, allowing each individual more adequate time for medical consultations. When people use Google or WebMD, they typically attempt to match their symptoms with the information and articles available on these platforms. In contrast, this platform combines the extensive experience of physicians with advanced AI, preventing users from drawing hasty generalizations or engaging in unfounded speculation based on limited information.

Moreover, Ask The Doctor is not only requesting data from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) but is also actively “feeding back” information to it. The questions gathered on the platform reflect the healthcare needs of people in different geographic locations, and Ask The Doctor provides this information to the NIH free of charge.

Currently, the company operates an AI laboratory in Toronto, Canada, and is recruiting the world’s top AI experts to enhance its automated question-answering capabilities.

The platform’s goal is—Replace Google and WebMD for medical information queries in the next 3-5 years!The CEO stated with confidence, “We will become the world’s first line of medical defense and play a guiding role, helping patients navigate the often confusing healthcare system.”

In November 2016, Ask The Doctor secured an undisclosed amount of angel funding.

CEO Prakash Chand, a former athlete, later joined the ranks of serial entrepreneurs. Prior to this, he founded Premier Canada Maid Service, the largest independent house cleaning company in Canada, and expanded into the U.S. market through the same business. By 2012, the company’s annual revenue had reached millions of dollars. He sold a significant portion of his shares to focus on the Ask The Doctor platform.

Chief Technology Officer Suresh Kanumuri, with over 15 years of IT experience, formerly a Business Analytics Expert at DTE Energy, and also an investor and advisor to the Indian vehicle trading website Gaadi.com.

Chief Medical Officer Israel Idonije, was a defensive player for the Chicago Bears and the Detroit Lions. He founded boutique publishing houses targeting the niche markets of comics and sports, as well as a company that manufactures communion cups.

Dr. Suneel Sharman, namely the physician who requested the website from the CEO, currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer of the company based in Canada. In addition, the team includes a Chief Medical Officer in the United States.Patrick Goldenand Medical AdvisorKunaal Jindal。

Source: Forbes.com