TurnUp Raises €2M to Cut Healthcare No-Shows with AI

Ghent-based healthtech innovator, TurnUp, has successfully closed a €2 million seed funding round, signaling a significant push to tackle the pervasive issue of missed appointments in healthcare. The investment, spearheaded by Newion with participation from RDY Ventures, will fuel the company's expansion of its AI-powered platform designed to optimize appointment scheduling and drastically reduce costly no-shows.

Missed appointments represent a substantial financial drain on the healthcare industry, with estimates placing the annual cost in the hundreds of billions of euros globally. Traditional methods for managing cancellations and filling last-minute openings, such as manual phone calls and waiting lists, are often inefficient and resource-intensive for practice staff. TurnUp aims to revolutionize this by leveraging artificial intelligence to predict and mitigate these disruptions.

Founded in 2022 by Nicolas De Bruyne and Jona Decubber, and now led by CEO Koen Lepez, TurnUp has developed a sophisticated AI system that integrates seamlessly with existing practice management software. This platform analyzes historical patient data, scheduling patterns, and external variables to identify appointments at high risk of being missed. Proactive, targeted patient communication is then initiated to confirm attendance or facilitate rescheduling.

Beyond predictive analytics, TurnUp automates a suite of administrative tasks, including appointment confirmations, cancellation processing, and waitlist management. A key feature is its AI receptionist, 'Elissa,' capable of engaging patients in multiple languages and outside standard business hours. This not only alleviates administrative burdens on reception teams but also enhances the utilization of valuable appointment slots, a critical factor in practice efficiency.

The company reports significant traction, currently serving over 250 practices across Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK, encompassing more than 2,500 dental professionals. To date, TurnUp claims its platform has prevented over 500,000 no-shows and saved administrative staff tens of thousands of hours. CEO Koen Lepez emphasized the company's ambition: "We always start from the same question: how do we make sure every chair in a practice is filled? No-shows are the biggest obstacle to occupancy. In Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK, we've shown we can solve that problem. Now we want to do the same for every care practice in Europe and then the US. The scale is there."

This fresh capital injection will be strategically deployed to bolster TurnUp's commercial operations and bolster its technical capabilities. A particular focus will be placed on accelerating growth within the UK market, where the company is already conducting a pilot program with approximately 400 healthcare facilities. The investment underscores the growing demand for technology solutions that enhance operational efficiency and patient engagement within the healthcare sector.