Lack of doctors and regulation in Southeast Asia is resulting in the rise of online healthcare. Over the past few years, the region has seen a steady increase in the number of startups in the healthcare space. In Indonesia, especially, where there is just 0.2 physician per 1,000 people, according to data by the World Health Organization, the growth has been exponential.
Among those leading the charge is Halodoc, Indonesia's largest telemedicine platform, that has recently raised $65 million in series B from investors in Singapore, South Korea and China.
The round was led by new investor UOB Venture Management, and the other new investors included Singtel Innov8, Korea Investment Partners and WuXi AppTec. Existing investors, including Openspace Ventures, Clermont Group, Blibli.com and InvestIdea, also participated.
What Matters - Halodoc, backed by Indonesian unicorn Go-Jek, is a digital healthcare platform that includes a mobile app and website allowing customers across Indonesia to have live consultations with more than 20,000 licensed doctors in the country, anytime, anywhere. Customers can order lab tests to be carried out in their home and use the app to order medication from 1,300 participating pharmacies, which can be delivered within an hour.
The startup, founded in 2016, claims its platform usage grew by 2,500 per cent last year, demonstrating robust demand for healthcare convenience. It has also teamed up with more than 1,400 hospitals and healthcare providers in a nationwide partnership to boost the hospital visit experience. The partnership provides customers with shortened wait times at the pharmacy post appointment and a cashless hospital visit through linking of insurance benefits.
Halodoc, which was named “Most Innovative Start-up in Asia in November 2018” by Galen Growth Asia, an organization that monitors the healthcare start-up ecosystem in the Asia Pacific region, says it will use the new funds to perfect the online to offline healthcare experience with hospitals and insurance partners as its roll-out continues in 2019.
Expanding Reach - Jonathan Sudharta, founder and chief executive officer of Halodoc, says, “Today, we provide two million customers with convenient and reliable healthcare services monthly, of which half reside outside Java. There is a huge potential for technology to extend the reach of conventional healthcare, providing better access for the archipelago's large population.”
The strategic investments and partnerships “will enable us to accelerate our efforts in building a platform that improves access and convenience to millions of Indonesian customers,” he adds in the release.
Kian-Wee Seah, managing director and chief executive, UOB Venture Management, says, “Halodoc’s vision is to use technology to make quality healthcare more accessible for everyone and to optimize finite healthcare resources in a vast country such as Indonesia. This investment in Halodoc is a reflection of our responsible investing approach to support economic and social development.”
Andre Soelistyo, president at Go-Jek, says Halodoc is focusing on making life better for people throughout Indonesia and Southeast Asia. Two years ago, the ride-hailing giant had integrated its on-demand medicine delivery service Go-Med into HaloDoc’s app.
“We worked together to create GO-MED, through which Halodoc's services are made available to millions of our users through the Go-Jek app. We are proud to support the company and its management team and look forward to deepening the integration between our two platforms.”
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