DocPlanner raises $20 million and merges with Doctoralia as doctor-booking wars heat up

Doctor-booking wars. I know, right? I can barely believe I wrote that headline myself.

But it’s true. Somehow, finding the right doctor and making an appointment has emerged as one of the world’s biggest problems. And an avalanche of venture capital is pouring into companies offering to solve it.

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Today, DocPlanner of Poland announced it has raised $20 million in venture capital and has acquired Doctoralia.com, a Spain-based competitor. DocPlanner, which operates in 25 countries, said it plans to use the money to expand into new markets and continue developing its booking platform.

The fundraising brings DocPlanner’s total to $34 million, and it includes investors such as Target Global, ENERN Investments, EBRD, Point Nine Capital, Piton Capital, and RTAventures.

“We have the ambition to become the clear number one global online platform for healthcare,” said Mariusz Gralewski, founder and CEO of DocPlanner, in a statement. “In our key markets, we are actively growing the supply of doctor calendars available to patients online and are focusing on delivering a top quality experience for both sets of users.”

Good luck! In the U.S., ZocDoc of New York raised $130 million last year, giving it a valuation of $1.8 billion. And in France, Doctolib raised $20.5 million to help it expand into six new European countries in 2015.

So, the battle for the hearts and minds and wallets of patients and doctors is on. We’ll see if the problem is really dire enough to justify this frenzy of venture capital funding.