Kry expands its telehealth service to France — under new brand, Livi

Swedish telehealth startup Kry, which bagged a $66M Series B in June for market expansion, is executing on that plan — announcing today it will launch into the French market on September 15.

This will be the fourth market for the 2014 founded European startup, after its home market of Sweden, along with Norway and Spain. When we spoke to Kry in June it also said it was eyeing a UK launch, and it says now the country is “coming up next” on its launch map.

Kry’s boast for its service is it lets patients ‘see’ a healthcare professional within 15 minutes — i.e. via a remote video consultation on their smartphone or tablet. It recruits doctors locally, in each market where it operates.

The French launch introduces a new brand name for the service, which will be called Livi in the market.

Livi will also be Kry’s brand for all markets outside the Nordics (derived from the Swedish word for ‘life’ — which is ‘liv’).

European state-funded healthcare services vary by country but in France Kry says the government is implementing a national system for public reimbursement of digital healthcare consultations via video — “in light of unequal access, increasing costs and over-usage of emergency services”.

So it’s evidently aiming for Livi to tap into that public money pot.

“I am very excited about bringing our service to French patients,” said Kry CEO and co-founder Johannes Schildt in a statement. “Our vision is great healthcare for everyone, regardless of who you are or where you live. Using digitalization we will fast forward the future of healthcare, making it patient focused, proactive and economically sustainable. The fact that France is opening up for digital healthcare on a national level should be an inspiration to the rest of Europe.”

Over in the UK, the new minister responsible for health, Matt Hancock — who was previously in charge of digital matters — has made increasing the National Health Service’s use of technology one of his key priorities, announcing yesterday a further £200M to plough into upgrading NHS IT systems.

Which will also, presumably, be music to health app makers’ ears.

Kry says its telehealth service has now generated more than half a million patient meetings, across its existing markets, saying it grew 740% in 2017 — which it claims makes it the largest digital healthcare provider in Europe.

In its home market of Sweden it also says it accounts for more than 3% of all primary care doctor visits.

While in March this year it added an online psychology service to its offering, and says it’s now the largest provider of cognitive behavioral therapy treatments in Sweden.

Investors in the digital health business include Index Ventures, Accel, Creandum, and Project A.