Computer scientist Dylan Quinn developed an idea for a telehealth platform in 2021 when he realized that working a 9-5 job doesn’t leave you much time to see a doctor. Three years later, Updoc, the company he co-founded with Clifton Hodgkinson, has served more than 200,000 customers and banked $20 million in funding.
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Seeing a doctor can be difficult when you work traditional office hours. And so, Dylan Quinn and Clifton Hodgkinson decided to solve this problem with Updoc. This online digital healthcare platform enables patient consultation to communicate with a healthcare professional remotely.
To date, Updoc has facilitated consultations for more than 200,000 clients, and in May of this year, it bankrolled its first round of funding: $20 million in a round led by Bailador Technologies, the same fund behind InstaScript. It was released in mid-2023. $135 million purchase by Wesfarmers.
“When you’re working week in week out, looking at the numbers, it looks like the numbers don’t change,” Quinn says. “But, if you zoom in monthly or quarterly, it gives you a lot of confidence. We have a small but capable team, and we’re all using the technology to provide convenient and accessible healthcare and to scale us.
Quinn, 28, an associate computer science graduate from the University of Sydney, worked for product and engineering teams at WiseTech Global and IBM before joining Uber Australia’s driving team in 2016. There, he saw a common thread: technology was used to simplify life.
“You can get an Uber or transportation at the push of a button or anything you want from Amazon with one click, but you can’t do the same with health care. So, this was a great opportunity. To see how my product and technology experience can be used to create a platform that connects patients and doctors to provide accessible, safe and convenient healthcare.
And that’s Updoc’s real game: patients can fill out an online form and request a consultation from one of Updoc’s 100 doctors or specialists within minutes and, in most cases, get a call back within hours.
It’s not just convenient for users; Quinn and his 30-strong team also hope to push the country’s public health care system.
“About 50% of people using Updoc would have either gone to a hospital emergency department – so they would have used public resources – or would have delayed or not sought care. So, just providing that care , which may not exist, is great.
And Quinn notes that this wasn’t the co-founders’ first rodeo: They had started an earlier company together (an electric bike subscription company).
“It allowed us to iron out how to run a business, how to manage people and how to market and create a good product. So, when we started Updoc, we were in a great position – we had this experience. And had a great working relationship, what we learned, and applied it in the healthcare industry.
Coyne and Hodgkinson bootstrapped Updoc until 2024, intending to delay raising capital for as long as possible. They were named Deloitte’s fastest growing startups in 2023, with growth of nearly 16000%. With their latest investment, Updoc plans to accelerate the development of their product roadmap and continue to expand. While that may involve global expansion at some point, Quinn says there’s a big opportunity to fix it at home.
“There are over 150 million consultations a year in Australia, and we currently cover a fraction of them. So, we see a lot of room for growth here.
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