Aqua med

What Aqua med does

Aqua med, operated by Medical Helpline Worldwide GmbH (MHW) and headquartered in Bremen, Germany, is a specialized diving and travel medical assistance provider serving recreational divers, professional divers and instructors, diving families, commercial diving companies, and international travelers. The company sells a tiered portfolio of annual subscription dive cards — basic (€60/year), professional (€160/year) and family (€130/year) — that combine an emergency medical insurance product with a 24/7 physician hotline (the 'diveline'), unlimited hyperbaric chamber treatment coverage, 56-day overseas travel health insurance per trip, and personal liability protection. Underlying insurance risk is carried by Chubb (EU and Switzerland), R+V Versicherung (EU professional liability), and UNIQA (Switzerland/Liechtenstein), while Aqua med operates the medical assistance platform: a curated international network of hyperbaric chambers, hospitals, and transport providers; direct billing arrangements; optional customer medical data storage for emergencies; and direct physician access (no call center). The offering is sold primarily direct-to-consumer via a multi-language (DE/EN/ES/IT/FR) online customer portal, supplemented by a network of diving-school and instructor sales partners, B2B sales to commercial diving companies, group packages, and customer-referral programs.

The business model is recurring-subscription-driven, with automatic annual renewal and one-month notice. Add-on revenue streams include standalone professional liability insurance (€100/year), Student Protect coverage for divers-in-training, long-term overseas health insurance beyond 56 days, dedicated 24/7 emergency hotlines for commercial diving teams, and medical education seminars (e.g., tauchmedizinische seminars aligned with DGUV workplace safety regulations). The company has been audited annually to DIN ISO 9001:2015 by TÜV SÜD since 2012, supports a customer base of approximately 100,000 as of April 2025 (up from ~85,000 in 2018), employs 11–50 people, and has no public listing, disclosed funding rounds, or external investors referenced in the source material. Revenue is not publicly disclosed.

Name

Aqua med

Legal name

Medical Helpline Worldwide GmbH

Website

https://aqua-med.eu

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Aqua med is a German specialized medical assistance and travel insurance provider for the diving community, operating 24/7 physician-staffed emergency hotlines and a tiered annual dive card subscription portfolio serving recreational divers, instructors, families, and commercial diving companies across Europe and worldwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Diving and Travel Medical Insurance

SIC

Hospital & Medical Service Plans (6324), Services-Misc Health & Allied Services, Nec (8090)

akta.pro primary industry

Membership/Subscription Concierge Virtual Care (HLALAAAH)

Keywords

• Diving medical insurance
• Travel health insurance
• Diving accident coverage
• Hyperbaric chamber treatment
• Professional liability insurance

Headquarters

HQ city

Bremen

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Dive Card Subscriptions: Annual subscription-based dive card insurance products providing comprehensive diving accident insurance and overseas health coverage. Three tiers: Basic (recreational divers), Professional (professional divers/instructors), and Family (families of divers). Renews automatically with one-month notice after first year.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Aqua med sells subscription-based dive card insurance products that combine a 24/7 physician-staffed medical emergency hotline with worldwide diving accident and overseas travel health coverage, including unlimited hyperbaric chamber treatment. The company operates an international network of hyperbaric chambers, hospitals, and transport providers, and coordinates direct billing so customers do not pay out of pocket for covered treatment. It also provides professional liability insurance for diving instructors, group packages, and a dedicated emergency hotline for commercial diving companies.

Product overview

Aqua med is a diving and travel medical assistance company offering a tiered portfolio of dive card insurance products centered around emergency medical services for divers worldwide. The core product line consists of three dive card tiers: dive card basic (€60/year) for recreational divers, dive card professional (€160/year) for instructors and professional divers with integrated professional liability coverage, and dive card family (€130/year) for up to 2 partners and 2 children. The dive cards function as both membership cards providing 24/7 physician hotline access and insurance policies covering unlimited hyperbaric chamber treatments, emergency transport, and 56-day overseas travel health insurance. Optional add-ons include Student Protect (free student accident coverage under professional cards), standalone professional liability insurance, long-term overseas health insurance, group packages, and dedicated emergency hotlines for professional diving companies. The portfolio is unified by a single medical assistance platform with international reach, primarily serving the European market including Germany, Spain, Italy, France, and international diving destinations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• dive card basic Entry-level diving medical emergency and travel insurance subscription for recreational divers, providing 24/7 physician hotline access, unlimited hyperbaric chamber treatment, personal liability insurance, and up to 56 days of overseas travel health insurance per trip.
• dive card professional Professional diving insurance subscription for instructors, assistant instructors, dive guides, scientists, photographers, and biologists, including integrated professional liability coverage of €5.0 million and the Student Protect program for trainees.
• dive card family Family diving insurance subscription covering up to 2 partners and 2 children under 21 at the same address, with unlimited hyperbaric chamber treatment, emergency transport coverage, and 56 days of overseas travel health insurance per trip.
• Student Protect Free diving accident protection bundled with dive card professional that covers students in beginner courses with unlimited hyperbaric chamber treatment and €10,000 emergency transport for up to 6 months or until certification is obtained.
• Profihaftpflicht (Professional Liability Insurance) Standalone professional liability insurance for diving instructors, available as an add-on to dive card family or separately, covering claims arising from professional diving activities.
• Langzeit-Auslandskrankenversicherung (Long-term Overseas Health Insurance) Extended overseas health insurance subscription providing comprehensive medical coverage for long-term travelers beyond the standard 56-day per-trip limit of the dive cards.
• Gruppenangebot (Group Offer) Group subscription package for diving clubs, teams, schools, and organizations offering discounted rates for multiple dive card registrations under a single arrangement.
• Berufstaucher-Notrufhotline (Professional Diver Emergency Hotline) 24/7 dedicated emergency hotline subscription for professional diving companies, providing access to specialized diving medicine physicians for diagnosis, hyperbaric treatment indications, rescue coordination, and DGUV occupational safety compliance, including employee training seminars.

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Medical Helpline Worldwide GmbHcoreOthersParent company (MHW) that owns the aqua med brand. Responsible for data processing, contracts, and overall company operations.
• DGUV (Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for compliance with accident prevention regulations for diving work. aqua med supports commercial diving companies in meeting their workplace safety obligations (Fürsorgepflicht) under DGUV regulations.
• EUF (European Underwater Federation)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDiving federation membership required for Student Protect eligibility. Insurance terms follow EUF and other internationally recognized federation guidelines.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Global Rescue: Travel risk and emergency assistance provider offering emergency evacuation, field rescue and travel medical advisory services to adventure and expedition travellers - functionally adjacent to Aqua med's diver emergency hotline and overseas medical-coverage proposition.
• DAN (Divers Alert Network): The world's largest and most established diving medical assistance and dive safety organization, offering direct diving accident insurance, 24/7 emergency hotlines, and research into dive medicine - a near-clone of Aqua med's core proposition globally.
• DAN Europe: European regional arm of the Divers Alert Network, providing diving medical emergency assistance, hyperbaric chamber coordination and dive accident insurance across the EU - Aqua med's most direct European regional competitor.
• DiveAssure: Specialist dive travel insurance provider offering diving accident, equipment and trip cancellation cover to recreational and professional divers worldwide - competing head-to-head in Aqua med's product category.

Others

• R+V Versicherung AG: One of Aqua med's core insurance partners, providing professional liability underwriting for diving instructors in the EU. Useful as a peer in the sense that R+V could conceivably bypass Aqua med and distribute a competing product directly to diving schools.

Broad incumbents

• MedAire (a company of International SOS): Specialist in in-flight and maritime medical assistance and crew health support. Comparable to Aqua med in operating an around-the-clock physician-staffed emergency advisory line and a global network of medical service providers, though focused on aviation, maritime and superyacht crews rather than recreational divers.
• Allianz Travel Insurance: One of the largest general-purpose travel insurance providers globally, offering adventure-sport riders including scuba diving - the dominant incumbent Aqua med competes against for travellers who do not require specialist-only diving cover.
• International SOS: World's largest medical and travel security assistance company serving corporate clients and travellers globally. Overlaps with Aqua med on the 24/7 medical hotline, evacuation coordination and international medical provider network dimensions, though at an enterprise-scale B2B breadth.

Emerging players

• World Nomads: Travel insurance built for adventure travellers (including diving, mountaineering and other adventure sports), sold directly online with optional add-on activities. Competes with Aqua med for adventure-oriented customers who want insurance that covers high-risk activities.
• SafetyWing: Subscription-based travel medical insurance for remote workers and long-term travellers, delivered fully digitally. Comparable to Aqua med on the recurring-subscription + overseas-medical-coverage axis, though without the diving-specific specialism.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/aquamed.eu
• Instagraminstagram.com/aquamedbremen

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Aqua med