nabla - Healthcare Super App for Women

Introducing Nabla: A New Health App for Women

Nabla, a startup originating from France, is today releasing a novel application dedicated to women’s well-being. The platform consolidates several services designed to empower users in managing their health effectively. Essentially, Nabla facilitates communication with healthcare professionals, provides access to community-sourced information, centralizes medical records, and will soon incorporate telemedicine consultations.

Core Feature: Direct Communication with Professionals

Currently, Nabla’s most prominent feature is the ability to initiate conversations with qualified health professionals. Users can directly message a general practitioner, a gynecologist, a midwife, a nurse, a nutritionist, or a physiotherapist.

While these textual exchanges aren’t intended to fully substitute traditional in-person visits, they offer significant benefits. Increased engagement with healthcare providers can lead to improved health outcomes and potentially encourage more comprehensive, face-to-face appointments.

Nabla in the Competitive Landscape

Several other French startups are already offering text-based consultations with practitioners. For example, Alan, a health insurance provider, allows messaging with a general practitioner, but this service is exclusive to Alan policyholders. Biloba also provides a doctor chat feature, though their focus is primarily on pediatric care.

Nabla distinguishes itself through its unique positioning and the availability of this feature at no cost – although usage is limited to a certain number of questions each month. Frequently asked questions may be addressed within the community forum, which will be curated by Nabla’s medical team.

A Sustainable Model: Free Access and Future Premium Features

The provision of a free health-related service might raise concerns about data privacy. However, Nabla is backed by substantial funding and intends to introduce premium features in the future to ensure sustainability.

The startup has successfully secured $20.2 million (€17 million) in funding and has assembled a team of doctors prepared to respond to inquiries from its initial users – or patients. Key investors include Xavier Niel, Artemis, Rachel Delacour, Julie Pellet, Marc Simoncini, and firstminute Capital.

The Founding Team’s Proven Expertise

Nabla’s ability to attract significant investment prior to its app launch is largely attributable to the founders’ established success within the technology sector.

Alexandre Lebrun, the co-founder and CEO, previously established VirtuOz, which was later acquired by Nuance, and Wit.ai, which was acquired by Facebook. Most recently, he contributed to Facebook’s AI Research team (FAIR).

Delphine Groll, the co-founder and COO, has led business development and communications for prominent media organizations, including Aufeminin and My Little Paris. Martin Raison, Nabla’s co-founder and CTO, collaborated with Alexandre Lebrun at both Wit.ai and Facebook.

Centralized Health Data and the Role of Machine Learning

Beyond text-based communication, Nabla maintains a comprehensive log of all user interactions. This log can be integrated with other health applications and services, such as Apple’s Health app, Clue, and Withings, providing a unified view of personal health data.

The startup strongly believes in the potential of machine learning to enhance preventive and holistic care. Data sharing for machine learning purposes is opt-in only, allowing users to contribute to improvements in processes and personalization.

Enhancing, Not Replacing, the Doctor-Patient Relationship

Nabla’s ultimate goal is to optimize interactions between patients and doctors. The company emphasizes that it does not aim to replace physicians but rather to augment medical consultations, enabling doctors to focus on the empathetic and human aspects of care.

Future plans include the introduction of a telemedicine service for real-time consultations, alongside a premium subscription offering with expanded features. This ambitious roadmap will be closely watched to assess Nabla’s ability to realize its vision and cultivate a dedicated user base.