BetterDoc

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.

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

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

• Medical specialist search
• Physician referral services
• Corporate health benefits
• Healthcare navigation
• Second opinion services

Headquarters

HQ city

Cologne

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core 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

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• 300+ Employer PartnerscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorBetterDoc 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)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorBoth 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 PartnerscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorIn 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)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerA 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. KGminorOthersPAS 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

Direct 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

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/betterdoc-gmbh

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about BetterDoc