WebDoctor gets €3m investment as it targets new markets

Health tech company WebDoctor has secured a €3 million investment from VentureWave Capital's Impact Ireland fund, which is backed by the likes of Hollywood actor Liam Neeson and members of U2.

The investment, which values the company at €48 million, will be used to accelerate international expansion.

The telehealth platform was established in 2013 by co-founders Oisín and Howard Kim and Martin Commins. It now enables engagement and collaboration between healthcare practitioners and their patients, with more than 350,000 Irish patients registered on its GP platform. WebDoctor enables doctors to conduct day-to-day operations virtually, automate their booking and payment processes, and hold virtual consultations with patients.

Its partners include insurer Laya Healthcare, for which it manages its Care on Call offering.

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Revenue at WebDoctor rose 75 per cent between 2019 and 2020 as telehealth services experienced a boom during the Covid-19 pandemic, chief executive David Crimmins said, who expects this level of growth to be maintained this year.

“We’ve done about 250,000 video consultations since inception, but as many as 50 per cent of those have been in the past 12-18 months,” he said.

Mr Crimmins said while the company was best known for its online consultancy offering, it was also increasingly working with healthcare professionals looking to offer more digital services, but who were using legacy systems or none at all. He estimated that this part of the business could end up representing more in terms of revenues in the future.

Board of directors

In tandem with the investment, VentureWave Capital chairman and managing partner Alan Foy will join WebDoctor's board of directors.

“We are excited to invest in WebDoctor – a successful, scaling Irish health technology business with a really strong team of promoters and entrepreneurs,” he said.

“WebDoctor is a great example of an Irish company with an excellent market opportunity, proven team and exemplary technology/product platform,” Mr Foy added.

The investment is the fund’s second following a €2 million funding round for Irish meal-kit delivery service DropChef.

VentureWave Capital has a €100 million target for its Impact Ireland fund, which invests in Irish “tech for good” companies.

The private equity firm is headed by Kieran McLoughlin, and co-founded by Mr Foy and Brian Martin. It is aiming to take strategic stakes in up to 15 companies that are either originally from Ireland or which are prepared to relocate from elsewhere and grow their business here.

Along with the likes of Liam Neeson, other investors in the fund include former property magnate Stephen Vernon; UBS Americas chairman Bob McCann; Ireland Funds chairman Eugene McQuade; CPL co-founder and chief executive Anne Heraty; and Stanley Quek, who leads a property development company in Singapore.