A self-proclaimed leader in its particular market in Belgium, ViviDoctor has raised seed funding. The round raised funds of €400,000 for the health-tech startup.

The startup, which partners with hospitals in addition to going directly to the consumer-base, provides users with the ability to consult with doctors and specialists online using teleconsultations.

“We charge hospitals and clinics a service fee per month, and the hospitals/clinics can choose to charge their patients or not,” Co-founder and CEO of ViviDoctor, Sidar Ok told TechCrunch. “We also have our own GP network, where we charge 20 Euros for one consultation, and receive a commission.”

The purpose of the platform is to make communications between the professionals and their patients easier and more convenient while also reducing the number of times patients are readmitted. One of the ways patients can communicate with medical professionals using the platform is via video conferences.

“[The] hospital business is a hard because it is the type that you don’t want returning customers,” Ok said.

Founded in 2016 by Sidar Ok and Andrej Zachar, the Brussels-based healthtech startup is currently working on getting its platform into hospitals.

“The doctor visits are not convenient for the patient, and expensive for the hospitals,” Ok said. “Hospitals face bigger budget cuts than ever and are looking for ways to cut the costs without decreasing the revenue and losing the connection with the patients. Teleconsultations is an effective way of achieving both and several [of the] biggest hospitals as our clients prove this.”

The startup launched with 4 hospitals and local GPs in 2017, after its founding the previous year. According to Ok, Babylon, Pushdoctor, and KRY are all startups which could be considered competition for the startup, however, ViviDoctor is the only company of its kind working through hospitals, an aspect which has not been well received by The Belgian Board of Doctors.

“Our launch has created a lot of controversy in the local medical world as well as the media,” Ok said. “This has disheartened us, but after our research, the conclusion was that doing teleconsultations is not illegal, and can save lives, cost and time.”

(Picture courtesy: https://www.vividoctor.com/)