Investing in Synapse: €7 million to build a European leader in drug prescription safety
Because it helps doctors prescribe drugs more safely, Synapse is becoming the key partner of doctors, research labs and insurers alike. And with telemedicine booming on a global scale, the solution is more relevant than ever. The progress made since the seed round lead by XAnge last year is outstanding. We are (very!) proud to announce Synapse’s €7 million Series A, along with MACSF, Bpifrance and BNP Paribas Développement.
The day hydroxychloroquine turned mainstream
The heated controversy around hydroxychloroquine in the context of COVID-19 definitely helped raise awareness about drugs and the risks associated. Because a same molecule may heal in a given context but harm when used in the wrong clinical situation, extra attention must be given when prescribing drugs. For doctors it comes down to minimizing risk to the maximum, knowing that this minimum is still too high: in France alone, drugs are the cause of over 130 000 hospitalizations and 30 000 deaths each year. This is the equivalent of a COVID-19 epidemic.
The way Synapse allows healthcare professionals to easily access to reliable information and drug updates, analyze prescriptions in real-time and secure drug treatments is just brilliant. The medical community loves the tool. It is super relevant for advanced research programs, like the one focused on the use of data in hospital environment just launched by the Bordeaux CHU and other top-tier hospitals. Synapse is helping them build international leadership on the topic, with a direct impact on public healthcare.
A key asset for telemedicine platforms
Synapse equips telemedicine platforms with components that analyzes the doctor’s prescription — and alerts if any risk arises. This is crucial, as these platforms compete to offer the best tools & services to their audience, while their market is exploding. Between September 2019 and June 2020 in France, the number of doctors giving digital appointments raised from 2.000 to… 50.000! This trend is here to stay: according to a recent study by McKinsey & Company, 20% of healthcare acts in the USA will be provided virtually this year. Telemedicine is becoming widely used across the globe and the ability for platforms to secure prescriptions is now a necessity. In just over a year, Synapse emerged as the leader by equipping a majority of the platforms active in France. Their ambition is sensational, and their results even more.
Why insurers step-in
The team couldn’t have found a better partner than MACSF in this Series A, the leading insurer for healthcare professionals in France. Insurance companies have a direct interest in supporting (and promoting) their solution and it’s easy to see why: safer prescriptions means fewer accidents and reduced mortality rates. Patients are safer, so are doctors, and everybody else along the line. As such they will play a key role in the startup’s development in France and Europe.
Dealing with insurers will also be strategic to the startup’s development in the USA, where soaring healthcare costs have become a national issue. There, the market is divided between multiple players that often integrated, with their own universities, clinics and hospitals. With the funds raised, Synapse is absolutely ready to go.
Building the European leader
The progress made by Clément and Louis is stunning. Synapse is state-of-the-art entrepreneurship, and since the seed round led by XAnge last year we’ve been nothing but impressed (and I know it’s going to keep coming).
- They found their market-fit with a product that brings obvious value to doctors, patients and the scientific community.
- Their products keep getting better and better (kudos to their world-class CTO Alicia)
- They built and structured a great sales team, calibrated for European and USA growth.
In the coming months, the startup will continue to push and confirm its leadership on a European scale, where telemedicine is booming and digital tools to help prescription are much needed. The team can count on our support: this is going to be exciting!
