HomeFundingVideo-based healthcare startup KRY secures €6.1 million in a seed round led...

Video-based healthcare startup KRY secures €6.1 million in a seed round led by Index Ventures and Creandum

KRY, the Swedish digital health startup that connects patients with healthcare professionals for consultations via video, just closed a €6.1 million seed funding round led by London and San Francisco-based Index Ventures and Stockholm-based Creandum. Project A, an early-stage investor and operational VC from Berlin, also took part in this seed round.

KRY is currently only available in Sweden, but will use this first investment to power its international expansion. The launch in new markets will be announced over the coming months. The Stockholm-based startup was founded in 2014.

KRY is Sweden’s pioneering digital medical centre, allowing patients from across the country to receive a video consultation with a KRY-employed healthcare professional via their mobile phone, tablet or browser, rather than having to travel for a face-to-face appointment. Since KRY’s launch in 2015, over 30,000 Swedes have come to rely on the platform to seek medical advice, with 96% happy with the service received.

Once a patient has picked a time and date for their KRY appointment, and described their symptoms within the app, they are then connected via video link with a highly trained doctor for a 15-minute medical consultation. During this, the doctor diagnoses the patient and delivers advice for concerns that do not require physical examinations or samples, such as rashes, eczema, and fevers. Once the video appointment has finished the medical professional can, if necessary, print off a prescription or refer the patient to a specialist. The doctor will, as is industry standard, keep the user’s medical record. This process not only ensures patients receive the diagnosis or treatment they need, regardless of their location, but it also helps alleviate the already congested healthcare system.

KRY’s 15-minute video conferences cost 299 Swedish Krona per session, which is around the equivalent of £27/$35.

Johannes Schildt, CEO and co-founder of KRY, comments: “KRY’s mission is to revolutionise health care, enabling anyone, regardless of their location, to be diagnosed by a medical professional without having to leave their home or workplace. This first round will make it possible for us to provide our service to more people all over the world, helping them get the care and medical treatment they need. In addition to giving patients flexible and on-demand healthcare, KRY is helping to alleviate the pressure that growing populations have on traditional medical support models.”

Fredrik Cassel, Partner at Creandum adds: “Even before this round of funding, KRY reached a pace of patient meetings that is truly impressive, even on a Pan-European level. The secret here is the KRY team’s focus on putting consumers first, which is why they are so loved by their users.”

The sector of digital health startups is currently experiencing rapid growth. Earlier this year, New York-based research organisation CB insights reported that digital health startups received $2bn worth of investment in the first quarter of 2016, marking it as a record year for funding. In 2015, $4.5bn was invested, compared to just $1bn in 2011.

Thomas Ohr
Thomas Ohr
Thomas Ohr is the "Editor in Chief" of EU-Startups.com and started the blog in October 2010. He is excited about Europe's future, passionate about new business ideas and lives in Barcelona (Spain).
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