Telios, one of the pioneers of telemedicine in Romania, announced today it has closed an investment round of $ 200,000, including follow-on participation from existing investors. This 2nd round has been syndicated by Transylvania Angels Network in Cluj-Napoca, with involvement from other angel networks including Growceanu in Timisoara and TechAngels Romania in Bucharest, through Smart Impact Capital, a new established micro VC firm founded by Matei Dumitrescu, the vice-president of TechAngels Romania. Importantly, this is the first time that 3 of the largest angel networks in Romania are joining forces in a common investment. Them together with Spherik Accelerator’s investment fund and 2 foreign investors: an investment fund from Netherlands and a private investor from Belgium;

Telios services are covering a large and very diverse number of patients, from white-collar managers to blue-collar workers, who all need protection from COVID-19 and healthcare services delivered remotely in order to keep the economy going during the current crisis. The funding received will be used for expanding awareness of telemedicine in Romania, strengthening the market position, increasing the medical staff and enhancing the abilities of the platform.

”We are serving both corporate managers who have to work from home, and truck drivers or warehouse workers who need health advice while they are on the road or in difficult, hard to reach locations. We have by far the largest socio-economic footprint in Romanian telemedicine, which puts us in a very good position to have a strong contribution to healthcare during COVID-19 crisis. More companies and insurers, such as Asirom at the end of March, opt for Telios Care as their main healthcare and telemedicine provider, states Philip Choban, Telios’ CEO and Co-founder.

By using Telios, private companies and insurers can provide employees and insured patients, together with their families, 24/7 access to leading-edge telemedicine services provided by a dedicated team of doctors and nurses. Instead of waiting for days for a traditional doctor’s visit, patients can now jump into a doctor’s visit by phone or online with the most suitable specialist for their healthcare needs within minutes without being exposed to contact with other patients.

“I’ve been impressed by the work ethic over the past two years by the entire Telios team; medical, technical and sales. They continue to focus on quality healthcare services for all clients. I’m proud of Telios’ strong commitment to philanthropy, including providing their services to some of the underserved and underprivileged Romanians, including the blind and wounded veterans.”, commented Emmett King, Co-Founder of Transylvania Angels Network and Founding Investor of Telios. 

“I am glad to be part of Telios and to contribute as an investor and advisor in both investment rounds. It was a challenging opportunity for me to contribute to this project, together with valuable founders and stakeholders, in order to build something innovative and very necessary in our healthcare environment. Being a pioneer in our market Telios brings through its founders, a wealth of American experience in the field of telehealth. Teaching our local healthcare system how to benefit from reducing visits to clinics, as well as other benefits; saving time and costs for people and companies, and introducing an important new service of obtaining second opinions. All these provide a good foundation for a high growth in the coming months and years.”, added Florin Pop, Transylvania Angels Network’s Lead Investor and Founding Investor of Telios.

“I founded Smart Impact Capital specifically to help impactful startups such as Telios. We are not only investors, we are a group of people with extensive experience in business, acceleration and financing, committed to growing the companies in our portfolio. Building the gap between startups and investors, and building the capacity of startups to execute the business and to raise funding was one of my main focuses throughout my career as investor and, at the same time, as acceleration expert”, said Matei Dumitrescu, founder of Smart Impact Capital & Vice President TechAngels Romania.

“We’re excited to be involved in supporting Telios as it aligns with our long-term strategy to become an innovation platform. Spherik’s mission is to support innovation in key domains, while investing in startups, making growth resources available for them and helping them connect to the relevant stakeholders. It’s an honor to have our first investment made towards such a promising player on the international ehealth market as Telios.”, said Paul Brie, President, Spherik.

“We at Growceanu couldn’t pass up the opportunity to support Telios on its forward-looking innovative path by bringing in our business angels and their experience, expertise, and extensive network. Beyond the current crisis, this company contributes to the general development and continuing professionalisation of the medical sector in Romania and beyond, connecting patients and expert advice very effectively. The spirit of connection is what has also driven this investment deal and I’m happy to be involved together with our ecosystem partners from across the country.”, said Ciprian Man, Growceanu Angel Investment co-founder.

“I’m glad to see this step forward for Telios! With the contribution of 15+ angel investors from 4 investment organisations it is an example that we can communicate and share opportunities together. Based on the efforts of the founding team, Telios is in the right position to help now during the crisis and benefit of the telemedicine wave that grows now.”, added Mircea Vadan, founder of Cluj Startups and board member of Spherik.

Telemedicine holds the answer to many of the long-term problems in the Romanian healthcare system. A survey released at the beginning of 2020, covering 10,000 people in 8 cities in Romania, showed that an astounding 85% of people who need medical assistance will usually postpone their doctor visit or cancel it altogether. This exposes millions of Romanians to substantial health risks, missed workdays, and a lower quality of life. It also directly affects companies’ productivity and bottom-line, because so many people miss work for reasons that can be avoided with an early doctor visit.

About Telios

Telios launched in August of 2018, after two years of developing the platform. In a very short time their service attracted some of the biggest insurance companies as strategic partners, gained big corporate customers, and significantly increased their call volume. Telios is currently developing an AI powered app for self-diagnosis which they plan to launch soon. Telios is looking to expand its services to more countries in Eastern Europe, all the while keeping up with its commitments to make telemedicine available to more people in disadvantaged communities.

About Transylvania Angels Network

Transylvania Angels Network is an initiative for bringing together business people interested in angel investing and mentoring tech startups. As a network they are focused on connecting people with the desire to learn from each other while assisting to grow and mature the local startup environment. This assistance includes getting personally involved by investing in and/or mentoring startups and their team members. 

T.A.N. was created in 2018 as a new branch of Cluj Startups, a non-profit organization working with young entrepreneurs since 2012. Their mission is to support the growth of and investment in the Romanian startup ecosystem and entrepreneurial experience.

About TechAngels Romania

TechAngels was founded in 2013 with the aim of becoming a common meeting point between tech startups and investors. The group has two main objectives: educate and support young entrepreneurs throughout investments, access to the accelerations programs and many other resources necessary for developing their own business and to encourage the potential angel investors to take the first steps in this field. 

About Smart Impact Capital

Smart Impact Capital is a new established micro VC firm founded by Matei Dumitrescu, the vice-president of TechAngels Romania. The group comprises 50% techangels and 50% various business experts.

About Growceanu

Growceanu Angel Investment is a group of business angels, active primarily in high-tech areas, who contribute money, professional, and business expertise, as well as personal connections, to the development of high potential (tech) startups.

About Spherik

Spherik is an NGO founded in 2013 to advance tech entrepreneurship in Romania as an essential step towards accelerating innovation. Through our national and European acceleration programs they match startups with strategic resources and support their growth at a global scale. At the same time, as Startup Europe Ambassador, Spherik exerts a strong position within the policy-making process both at national and European level.

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• Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Telios Care brings to Romania more than 25 years of experience in telehealth services in the USA. The company offers… Read More

The post Telios, one of the pioneers of Romanian telemedicine, closes an investment round of $ 200,000 appeared first on Startups&TheCity.

]]> https://startupsnthecity.com/telios-one-of-the-pioneers-of-romanian-telemedicine-closes-an-investment-round-of-200000/feed/ 0 https://startupsnthecity.com/telios-the-pioneer-of-telemedicine-in-romania-from-a-non-existent-market-to-call-lines-getting-hot/ https://startupsnthecity.com/telios-the-pioneer-of-telemedicine-in-romania-from-a-non-existent-market-to-call-lines-getting-hot/#respond Mon, 09 Dec 2019 08:07:36 +0000 https://startupsnthecity.com/?p=942 Telios, the pioneer of telemedicine in Romania, had a breakthrough year in 2019. After two years of developing their platform, they launched their service at the start of this year and in a very short time their service attracted some of the biggest insurance companies as strategic partners, gained big corporate customers, and significantly increased their call volume.

The post Telios, the pioneer of telemedicine in Romania: from a non-existent market to call lines getting hot appeared first on Startups&TheCity.

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Telios, the pioneer of telemedicine in Romania, had a breakthrough year in 2019. After two years of developing their platform, they launched their service at the start of this year and in a very short time their service attracted some of the biggest insurance companies as strategic partners, gained big corporate customers, and significantly increased their call volume. Telios is currently developing an AI powered app for self diagnosis which they plan to launch soon. They also work on CSR projects, one for the blind and one for the people in the villages, and they plan to expand next year into Hungary, Poland and Greece. Their customer base now varies from corporate employees and five star hotel guests to truck drivers.

Telios’ CEO and co-founder is Philip Choban, whose grandparents were born in Romania and immigrated to America in 1898. Philip returned to Romania after the fall of the communist regime. While living in Romania his wife, Carmen, fell gravely ill and was in need of constant medical help and guidance. With a condition making his wife difficult to leave the home, Philip found himself in a situation where he couldn’t find a doctor to answer his questions.  

“Luckily, our medical director is one of my closest and oldest friends here. He’s a doctor and he helped me out. I could call him up and he would get things done for for me so I started to think: what does the common person do when they don’t have these types of connections and that’s when we began.”, remembers Philip.

Since he was already involved in telemedicine in the United States, Philip decided to start a telemedicine company in Cluj, in 2017 along with his co-founders, Lucian Cosoi, Matt Henry (in the USA) and Dr. Adrian Danciu. During this time, he sought to develop a market, because a market for telemedicine didn’t exist in Romania. 

“It’s been an experience of educating people and making people aware about the benefits”

Telemedicine began to evolve in the States in the 1960s, with NASA using it in space, but it didn’t really begin to commercialize until the late 80s. Telemedicine in the States has evolved and now it’s a $30 billion business, with the biggest player now having over 30 million clients.

Using telemedicine, employers, employees, families and providers can save time and money by having 24/7 access to a doctor by phone or online, anytime and anywhere. Telios’s highly qualified physician and health professional team can provide a diagnosis as well as suggest treatment options. 

“Alongside the live interactions, secure email messaging to our entire medical team is available through our secure online portal. Have a quick question? – just send it to the medical team through the online portal and you will always get a personal, confidential, and professional response within 24 hours.”, details Philip.

Launching the service at the beginning of 2019 was perfect for Telios, their pipeline is now full with calls, they signed partnerships with important insurance names, and attracted big corporate customers. Some of the strategic partners include MedNet Greece, a Munich Re company, the largest reinsurance company in Europe, and SanoPass, the first company in Romania to provide a subscription based service for private clinics. Telios is the ‘first stop’ in their process should the customer wish a telephone consult prior to making an appointment with a physician.

Telios is currently incorporating, in partnership with MedNet Greece, an AI powered app through which people will be able to diagnose themselves and if they’re not satisfied with what the self diagnosis is telling them they can press the button and call a doctor directly.

“General medicine is the most sought advice followed by pediatrics and nutrition”

Using Telios, companies would save time for their employees, who would not have to take time off for unnecessary visits to doctors. They can just make a call and let the service keep their employees and their families more at peace about their health, which is very meaningful.

People generally call Telios for general medicine questions, pediatrics, nutrition and in a lesser regard psychology, dermatology, etc. Child psychology is also a growing segment as sometimes both parents might be working all the time and the kids are left with their peers, in an environment where there are drugs and other issues in the schools.

“General medicine is the most sought advice followed by pediatrics and nutrition. Nutrition is a huge area where we see the need to expand; we’re seeing cases of overweight, diabetes, problems with knees or ankles from weight.”, explains Phillip.

Besides employees of big corporate companies using Telios, telemedicine in Romania also has some other interesting use cases. For example, Telios gives a five star hotel in Cluj the option for their guests to call a doctor and have a discussion with them, a service offered both in Romanian and English. Other uses include logistics companies, who use Telios for their truck drivers while they are on the road. Telios also offers a “second opinion” service, which offers subscribers the possibility to have their medical files sent to medical doctors in the States to compare it to the opinion from the doctors in Romania. In about 50% of the cases, a second opinion changed the outcome of what needed to be done.

Telemedicine services at the push of a button or even at the sound of the voice, for the blind community

In partnership with Light into Europe, the largest NGO providing support to the blind and deaf communities in Romania, Telios will start providing primary health and wellness service to the blind community in the country. Together, they will provide telemedicine services at the push of a button, or the sound of the voice, to the blind community.

Initially, Telios will provide 150 beneficiaries from this community free access to the platform for one year. In the second phase, they will work closely with Light into Europe and other institutional partners to develop national coverage using this approach with the goal of providing both inexpensive and quality health solutions to vulnerable communities in Romania with limited or no access to basic health services.

“We’re implementing the first program where they’ll be able to call a doctor and talk to them instead of having to make an appointment and physically go there; for them it’s very difficult otherwise. To make an appointment, they now have to make a call and hail a taxi, which makes it very difficult for them to see a doctor, so by limiting those trips we’d be helping a lot of people.”, explains Philip.

Telemedicine for villages and expansion into the region

Next year, Telios plans to develop their B2B market and to expand into the B2C area. They will also be increasing their support for the disadvantaged communities, including not only the blind and the deaf, but also the people in the villages. They already have a company in the States that pledged a number of mobile telemedicine clinics that will be utilized for this.

“We have a commitment from a city in the northwest region of Romania that their hospital is going to connect with the villages around them via telemedicine, so the people won’t have to make the time-consuming trip to the hospital. For simple things, people will be able to go to the village community hall, which will have a medical assistant paid by the community, and use a telemedicine booth to connect them with a doctor in a nearby hospital with more resources. They will be able to talk to a physician and take basic measurements in the booth.The doctor will then be able to prescribe them the appropriate treatment. We will be providing the platform and equipment for this interaction to be possible”, details Philip.

Telios is committed to provide healthcare advice to all levels of society equally and is looking forward to not only expand its’ reach in Romania but in all of Eastern Europe, and has plans to go on the Romanian Stock Market within the next 24 months. 

In short, telemedicine provides a simple and secure way of making lives simpler and letting doctors do what they do best, and Philip sees telemedicine having a big impact in the future: “Healthcare innovation is a very new and hot market, that benefits all, and I think telemedicine has a bright and innovative future, with the current medical students being the ones that will inherit the future and change the direction of healthcare in Romania.“.

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