oDoc

oDoc is a telehealth platform operated by oDoc (Private) Limited, headquartered at 177 Galle Road, Colombo, Sri Lanka. The service is delivered as a smartphone app that lets users channel and video consult Sri Lanka Medical Council registered doctors, receive a prescription when medically required, and have medicine delivered. Consultations can be conducted by video, audio or text, and the platform is positioned for common, non-emergency conditions such as fever or rash, as well as checkups on chronic conditions, mental health and sexual health issues. The company launched its services on 17 September 2017.

The company describes itself as Sri Lanka's largest digital health company, serving over 200,000 users and more than 70 corporates, and states an ambition to build a consumer health and insurance application for emerging Asia that spans doctor consultations through health insurance management and links online and offline care. As of mid-2021 it reported onboarding more than 1,000 doctors across 60 specialisations, and revenue growth of 10x since 2020. In response to COVID-19, oDoc launched the Sri Lanka National Telemedicine platform on behalf of the country's Ministry of Health. Its core team includes co-founder and CEO Heshan Fernando, co-founder and Chief Data Officer Sohan Dharmaraja, COO Anisha Yasaratne, and VP Growth Minura Ratnasekera; headcount is reported at around 20 to 40.

Founding story

The company was founded in 2016 by Heshan Fernando, Sohan Dharmarajah, Inshard Naizer and Dr. Janaka Wickramasinghe. Accounts of its origin note that the founders approached the telemedicine problem from a design perspective rather than a medical one, which distinguished it from other telemedicine startups at the outset.

Business model

oDoc offers a monthly subscription giving unlimited access to general practitioners and specialists, and an alternative pay-as-you-go option in which the per-consultation price is determined largely by the individual doctor's fee. It also sells corporate subscriptions that integrate with other employer-provided health benefits and are positioned as reducing productivity loss from personal or family illness. The company's profile lists B2B, B2B2C and B2G business models.

Revenue is generated from consumer monthly subscriptions for unlimited GP and specialist consultations, per-use consultation fees under a pay-as-you-go option, and corporate subscription contracts with employers.

Traction

Reported metrics include over 200,000 users and more than 70 corporate clients, over 1,000 doctors onboarded across 60 specialisations as of mid-2021, and 10x revenue growth since 2020. Earlier reporting cited over 300 partner healthcare providers and more than 15,000 patients as of October 2018, and rollout to over 15 prominent Sri Lankan corporates.

Latest developments

The company states it is building a health and insurance application for emerging Asia that coordinates the user's healthcare journey from doctor consultations to health insurance management and bridges online and offline services. It also enabled medicines and lab tests to be ordered from home and operated the Sri Lanka National Telemedicine platform for the Ministry of Health.