Blackbird doubles down on Kiwi healthtech Carepatron in $6 million Seed round

New Zealand healthtech startup Carepatron has raised A$6 million in a Seed round co-led by existing backer Blackbird Ventures and US-based TQ Ventures:

Carepatron, launched in late 2021 by David Pene and Jamie Frew. It practice management software helps healthcare practitioners deal with administration, cutting the time spent dealing with it by around 8 hours a week.

The startup previously raised NZ$1.6 million in July 2022. Since then its seen users growing by 21% month-on-month and usage by 15%. On the client side, the app has reduces the time to access a service by over 95%.

The fresh capital, secured in August, will be used to increase the growth rate, continue its global expansion, and introduce artificial intelligence and other tech to its product suite.

Carepatron already used in more than 40 countries across the US, Europe and Asia Pacific, with around half the users in the US.

Pene and Frew, the CEO, hail from Tauranga, a city dubbed the North Island’s Gold Coast, better known for surfers, and kiwifruit.

Frew said Carepatron integrates every tool a practitioner needs, while the patient portal, streamlines patient-provider communication.

“Radical accessibility delivered through modern tools will allow practitioners to develop a fundamentally new way of working,” he said.

“Healthcare practitioners currently use outdated and inefficient tools to run their practices. 70% of practitioners operate from single-feature apps or still rely on paper and pen. Without access to an effective solution, practitioners are required to manage incompatible tools, increasing their workload and distracting them from what is truly important: delivering care to patients in need.”

Blackbird partner Phoebe Harrop said the workflow and payments software helps health practitioners such as therapists, chiropractors, and health coaches to manage their businesses end-to-end.

“The practitioner-client journey is made frictionless with centralised appointment scheduling and automated client reminders, note generation via voice-enabled transcription, and collated medical histories, so no record is lost,” she said.

“Plus, automated billing and coding with one-click invoicing, patient portal and accounts payable tracking, and seamless telehealth integration to conduct consults from anywhere, anytime.”