BetterDoc
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2012
- HeadquartersCologne, Germany
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What BetterDoc does
BetterDoc GmbH, founded in 2012 in Cologne and majority-owned since 2022 by Medgate Holding (a subsidiary of the Otto Group), operates a B2B2C specialist physician search service that helps patients in Germany and Switzerland identify the most appropriate doctors and clinics for their individual conditions. The core product rests on a daily-updated proprietary database aggregating public quality-relevant information on all licensed doctors and clinics — including qualifications, certifications, case volumes, publications, clinical trial participation, and routine data analyses from sources such as Bundesärztekammer, Kassenärztliche Vereinigungen, Deutsche Krebsgesellschaft, G-BA, PubMed, EU Clinical Trials, and AOK WIdO QSR — supplemented by anonymized Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) from more than 150,000 patient cases and by expert input from an advisory board of over 2,500 physicians across 400+ specializations. Service modules include core specialist matching, independent second opinions, mental-health therapy placement, appointment scheduling, and up to 24 months of follow-up support.
The company sells exclusively through B2B channels: more than 300 German corporate employer partners (SME through large enterprise) purchase BetterDoc as an employee health benefit, and both statutory and private health insurers — including Swiss partners Helsana, KPT, Visana, Assura, and others covering approximately half of the Swiss population — distribute it to insured members. Patients access the service free of charge through these employer or insurer partnerships, with no direct-to-consumer self-pay option. Reported outcomes include a 94% user recommendation rate, a 4.8-star Google rating across 300+ reviews, an average 7.7-day reduction in employee absenteeism per user, and clinical claims that every third diagnosis is corrected, two-thirds of therapy plans adjusted, and half of planned operations deemed unnecessary when reviewed by matched specialists.
The business model is subscription-based B2B recurring revenue, anchored by long-term contracts with employers and insurers. BetterDoc is privately held and headquartered at Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring 30-32, Cologne. It maintains annual TÜV Saarland data protection certification (with the 2025 seal displayed) and is audited by Swiss Infosec AG for Swiss operations, reflecting the regulatory sensitivity of processing health data under GDPR and Swiss data protection law. Leadership is anchored by the founding von Dellingshausen family, with Christoph A. von Dellingshausen and Nils von Dellingshausen serving as Managing Directors and Dr. med. Donata von Dellingshausen as founder and medical lead.
BetterDoc firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- BetterDoc
- Legal name
- BetterDoc GmbH
- Website
- https://betterdoc.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2012
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
BetterDoc industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Healthcare Navigation Services
- NAICS
- Offices of Physicians (6211), Other Individual and Family Services (624190)
- SIC
- Services-Health Services (8000), Services-Misc Health & Allied Services, Nec (8090)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Care Navigation, Second Opinion & Expert Medical Review (Payer-Sponsored) (HLALACAH)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Second Opinion & Expert Matching Platforms (HLALALAC)
Keywords
Where BetterDoc is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Cologne
- HQ country
- Germany
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
BetterDoc business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- B2B Employer Partnerships: BetterDoc charges employers a fee for providing the specialist search service to their employees as a corporate health benefit. Employers receive measurable reductions in absenteeism (averaging 7.7 days per user) and improved employee satisfaction.
- B2B Insurance Partnerships: Health insurance companies (both statutory and private) pay BetterDoc to offer the service to their insured members. The service is free at the point of use for patients covered by partner insurers.
- No Self-Pay Offering: BetterDoc does not offer direct-to-consumer self-pay pricing. The service is exclusively available to individuals covered through partner insurers or employer programs.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Free for patients via employer or insurance partners |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels4 records
BetterDoc product offering
Product offeringCore offering
BetterDoc provides a data-driven specialist search service that identifies the most appropriate physicians and clinics for individual patient conditions based on independent quality data (qualifications, certifications, case volumes, publications, clinical trial participation, and QSR routine data). The service includes a health questionnaire, personalized specialist matching, optional appointment coordination, and follow-up support for up to 24 months. It is offered free to end patients through two B2B channels: employer-sponsored corporate health benefits and partnerships with statutory and private health insurers in Germany and Switzerland.
Product overview
BetterDoc offers a unified healthcare navigation platform with two core service lines: (1) the BetterDoc Spezialistensuche for patients seeking specialized physicians, and (2) BetterDoc Corporate Health for employer-provided employee wellness benefits. Both services are built on a proprietary database of physician quality metrics, including qualifications, certifications, case volumes, scientific publications, clinical trial participation, and routine data analyses (QSR). The patient-facing service includes add-on modules for independent second opinions, therapy searches, appointment scheduling, and 24-month follow-up care, while the expert advisory board of 2,500+ physicians provides additional expertise for complex cases. The company also operates BetterDoc Magazin as an educational content platform.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- BetterDoc Spezialistensuche (Patient Specialist Search) A data-driven specialist search service for patients that provides independent, evidence-based referrals to specialized doctors and clinics based on medical qualifications, certifications, case volumes, and patient outcomes. Includes health questionnaire intake, personalized matching, optional appointment scheduling, and up to 24 months of follow-up support. Free at point of use for patients covered by partner employers or insurers in Germany and Switzerland.
- BetterDoc Corporate Health (B2B Employer Benefit) A B2B employee health benefit service that helps companies reduce absenteeism by connecting employees and their family members (partners and children up to age 23) with appropriate medical specialists. Covers diagnostics, treatment, operations, second opinions, and mental health therapy searches, with a demonstrated average reduction of 7.7 sick days per user.
Quantifiable outcome
- 94% of users recommend BetterDoc (based on internal and Google review data)
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use BetterDoc
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
BetterDoc technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
BetterDoc partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- 300+ Employer PartnerscoreBetterDoc partners with over 300 companies across Germany who offer the specialist search service as a corporate health benefit to their employees. These employers range from mid-sized companies to large corporations across diverse industries including manufacturing, energy, automotive, and public services.
- Health Insurance Partners (Germany)coreBoth statutory (gesetzliche) and private (private) health insurers in Germany partner with BetterDoc to offer the service to their insured members at no cost. This includes company health insurance funds and supplementary insurance providers.
- Swiss Health Insurance PartnerscoreIn Switzerland, BetterDoc partners with major health insurers including Helsana, KPT, Visana, Aquilana, Assura, Atupri, Agrisano, EGK, and ÖKK. These partners cover approximately half of the Swiss population, offering BetterDoc as a free service to their insureds.
- BetterDoc Expert Advisory Board (2,500+ Physicians)coreA network of over 2,500 leading physicians from Germany and Switzerland spanning more than 400 medical specializations. These physicians provide anonymous, digital, voluntary input on patient referrals for rare or complex cases where public data is insufficient. Participation is honorary with no compensation or external influence.
- PAS Dr. Hammerl GmbH & Co. KGminorPAS Dr. Hammerl acts as the billing service provider for private health insurance reimbursements related to BetterDoc services. Located in Nördlingen, Germany, PAS handles invoicing and debt collection for private insurer-covered BetterDoc services.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights5 records
BetterDoc competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Doctolib: Leading European doctor appointment and practice-management platform operating in Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands. Directly comparable as a specialist search and booking platform serving patients, practitioners, and increasingly enterprise/insurer partners.
- Sanvartis: German telemedicine and telemedical care provider offering consultation, second-opinion, and care navigation services to insurers and corporates. Directly comparable on B2B2C tele-medical advisory and second-opinion services to insurers.
- Doctoralia: Global doctor directory and appointment-booking platform (owned by Docplanner) with strong presence in Europe and Latin America. Comparable as a patient-facing specialist discovery and booking tool targeting similar user needs.
- Zocdoc: US-based online medical care appointment booking and specialist search service. Comparable in product (patient-facing specialist search and booking) and B2B distribution model (employers and insurers as channel partners).
- jameda: Germany's largest doctor search and review portal, owned by DocCheck/UnitedHealth-affiliated groups. Overlaps with BetterDoc on specialist discovery and patient reviews for the German market and represents the primary local incumbent in doctor matching.
Broad incumbents
- CompuGroup Medical: Large European healthcare software and services vendor with physician practice software, patient portals, and care-navigation adjacencies. Broader incumbent in health IT that overlaps with parts of BetterDoc's physician-information ecosystem.
- Medgate: Swiss telemedicine and teleconsultation provider, parent company of BetterDoc via Medgate Holding (Otto Group). Comparable digital-health footprint in Switzerland and overlaps on care navigation, though Medgate's core product is teleconsultation rather than specialist matching.
Emerging players
- Temedica: Munich-based digital health company building patient companion apps and health data platforms for insurers and pharma. Comparable on the payer-channel data-driven health engagement model adjacent to BetterDoc's insurer-distributed offering.
- Kelun Health / Keleya: German digital women's health platform offering guided programs and specialist-matching components. Emerging player with partial overlap on patient-side specialist navigation, particularly in OB/GYN and maternal care.
- Vivy: German health-as-a-service app backed by several statutory health insurers, providing digital health records and navigation features. Comparable as a payer-branded digital health front-end competing for insurer mindshare and covered-lives engagement.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
BetterDoc social profiles
Digital presenceBetterDoc compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance5 records
BetterDoc financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
BetterDoc leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles6 records
BetterDoc funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors2 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
BetterDoc M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about BetterDoc
What does BetterDoc do?
BetterDoc provides a data-driven specialist search service that identifies the most appropriate physicians and clinics for individual patient conditions based on independent quality data (qualifications, certifications, case volumes, publications, clinical trial participation, and QSR routine data). The service includes a health questionnaire, personalized specialist matching, optional appointment coordination, and follow-up support for up to 24 months. It is offered free to end patients through two B2B channels: employer-sponsored corporate health benefits and partnerships with statutory and private health insurers in Germany and Switzerland.
Is BetterDoc a public or private company?
BetterDoc is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was BetterDoc founded?
BetterDoc was founded in 2012. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is BetterDoc based?
BetterDoc is headquartered in Cologne, Germany, in the Europe region.
How does BetterDoc make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. B2B Employer Partnerships are the primary driver. The others are B2B Insurance Partnerships and no Self-Pay Offering.
Who are BetterDoc's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Doctolib, Sanvartis, Doctoralia, Zocdoc and jameda. Broad incumbents are CompuGroup Medical and Medgate. Emerging players are Temedica, Kelun Health / Keleya and Vivy.
Does BetterDoc have an API?
No public API is recorded for BetterDoc.
What industry is BetterDoc in?
BetterDoc's product category is Healthcare Navigation Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLALACAH, Care Navigation, Second Opinion & Expert Medical Review (Payer-Sponsored), with a secondary code of HLALALAC, Second Opinion & Expert Matching Platforms. Its NAICS code is 6211 and its SIC code is 8000.