Vancouver-based startup Medimap has secured $3.5 million CAD in seed financing to support the expansion of its medical clinic-focused software into new healthcare verticals.
The all-equity seed round was supported entirely by previous investors. Tiny Capital led, while Tiny Capital’s Andrew Wilkinson, Victoria-based angel investors Rasool Rayani, David Arnsdorf, and Rajiv Khaneja, and Shane Parrish, chairman and CEO of Ottawa-based holding company Syrus Partners, also participated. The fresh capital brings Medimap’s total funding to date to $4.5 million.
“It’s kind of crazy that it doesn’t exist, but we feel we feel like it’s something that Canadians should have.”
-Blake Adam, Medimap
After establishing itself as a platform to look up wait times and availability at walk-in medical clinics across Canada, Medimap sees room to grow by applying its tech and expertise to new healthcare verticals. Armed with $3.5 million in fresh capital, Medimap aims to execute on its strategy of becoming a “one-stop shop” for helping Canadians access other types of community healthcare services, including physiotherapy and chiropractors.
Medimap was founded in 2015 with the goal of helping Canadians compare medical clinics. The company has since grown to serve over 1,200 walk-in clinics across Canada.
In an interview, Medimap’s founder and CEO Blake Adam described Canada’s network of largely independent walk-in medical clinics as “a super fragmented system.” Prior to Medimap, patients would have to check walk-in clinic availability in person, by phone, or by searching the websites of individual clinics.
Given this, Medimap set out to simplify this experience, developing a platform that allows users to search, compare, and book in-person or virtual care from local medical clinics via its desktop or mobile app. Medimap users type in their location, specify the type of care they want to access, and then Medimap loads the results in list or map format, permitting users to filter through the available options, some of which offer online registration. Medimap is currently available for medical clinics “in every major city across Canada” outside of Quebec.
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“We’re looking to do the exact same thing for other types of healthcare service providers within your community,” said Adam. “Easy, local access to care by comparing real-time availability is kind of what it’s all about.”
Medimap plans to expand its team to accelerate its expansion into healthcare verticals like physiotherapy, chiropractors, massage therapy, optometry, mental health, and dieticians, with a focus on the provinces it currently serves. To achieve this goal, the startup plans to heavily invest in marketing initiatives.
“As far as local community-based access to care, there is no single platform where people can go to easily compare availability, where can I get an appointment that fits my schedule, and figure out where they can find access to care,” said Adam. “It’s kind of crazy that it doesn’t exist, but we feel we feel like it’s something that Canadians should have.”
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“Millions of Canadians already rely on Medimap for access to care in their community and this funding will allow us to have an even greater impact,” said Andrew Wilkinson, Tiny Capital’s co-founder and managing partner. “We’re very excited about this next phase of growth for the company.”
Medimap is free for end users. Clinics using Medimap pay a subscription fee for listing to promote their services, which is Medimap’s core revenue stream. They also have the option to pay based on when they actually generate new business through Medimap.
Adam said Medimap allows clinics to fill last-minute appointments and gain new clients, while also offering potential time savings by enabling them to easily publish their wait time online through its platform, lessening the need for them to repeatedly answer the phone to share this information with clients.
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During COVID-19, Medimap made moves to support the shift from all in-person to virtual care, enabling clinics to communicate availability and wait times for virtual as well in-person visits, and conduct virtual care consultations through its platform.
“A lot of people put their healthcare needs off for a long time just to avoid having to interact with the healthcare system where they haven’t needed to [during COVID-19], and there’s going to be more of a need than ever to have this one platform where people can easily go to compare availability in their community and efficiently match demand with supply,” said Adam.
“There’s definitely no shortage of work for us with this goal of providing Canadians with a one-stop shop where they can easily book any type of care in their community,” said Adam. “The goal for us at the moment is provider adoption, getting more clinics signed up on the platform, and just making sure that every Canadian knows that this service is available to them.”
Feature image by Greg Rosenke via Unsplash
