June 9th, 2020
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18 months after its first round of funding, Ambler has completed a €6 million financing round with Bpifrance via the Digital Venture division, Idinvest Partners, Partech and Kima Ventures to accelerate the development of its platform for connecting healthcare transporters and institutions.
Paris, 9 June 2020 - In France, the non-emergency medical transport market represents 80 million journeys per year and is worth 5 billion euros (more than the taxi and VTC sectors combined). The main uses include the care of patients with kidney failure, oncology, rehabilitation or residency in psychiatric hospitals. Today, this offer remains highly fragmented, with a myriad of independent carriers encountering difficulties in optimizing their services, and hospital staff having to manually manage each trip.
A year ago, Ambler, founded in 2018, launched a service to manage inter-hospital patient transfers via an online platform, which has been reformed to return inter-hospital transfer expenses to the hospital budget*. The start-up organizes the offer of health transport professionals (ambulance companies, light medical vehicles and taxis) in order to respond in both the most effective and efficient way to the demand from healthcare institutions. Ambler simplifies the heavy administrative work involved in managing non-emergency patient transport, which is a burden on healthcare staff (booking journeys, managing incidents, etc.), as well as on buyers and the financial teams of the institutions (calls for tenders, cost control, invoicing, recovery of budget allocations, etc.).
Nicolas Dumont, Product Director and co-founder of Ambler, explains: "The industry is lagging behind technologically: the offer is often limited to complex order-taking software for healthcare institutions. We have created a simple and interoperable platform that allows customers to book a trip in seconds. Ambler is more than just hospital software, it is also the point of contact between the hospital and the transporters: a one-stop shop for healthcare transport across the entire value chain to simplify, organize and impact the cost and quality of services.”
In just 18 months, Ambler's solution has already convinced more than 200 public and private hospitals and 500 transport companies to go digital.
In order to accelerate its development, Ambler announced that it has raised €6 million from Bpifrance, which is taking a stake in the company, and its historical shareholders Idinvest Partners, Partech and Kima Ventures. With this new round of financing, Ambler aims to continue its growth momentum and to expand its business in the area of travel between the patient's home and the healthcare facility (dialysis, radiotherapy, day hospitalization, etc.), which accounts for 80% of total demand. To achieve this, Ambler promotes a partnership model with the health transport companies based on cooperation between the network members and the mutualization of support.
The start-up also intends to continue its technological developments and strengthen its operational and commercial teams. Finally, Ambler aims to expand its presence in new French regions, with the goal of nationwide coverage by 2021.
For Mehdi Ben Abroug, co-founder & CEO of Ambler: “The achievement of this Series A round will allow us, together with trusted investors, to accelerate towards our vision for Ambler: to become the largest ambulance network in France by bringing together thousands of small and medium-sized ambulance companies, using an innovative partnership model and our technology to raise the level of service to the highest standards of mobility”.
Adrien Neel, Investment Director at Bpifrance's Digital Venture division, emphasizes: "It is essential to simplify the lives of hospital staff, who are today overwhelmed by logistical and administrative tasks. That is why we are delighted to accompany Ambler in this new phase of growth and proud to have been able to lead this fundraising in the current pandemic context".
Press Contacts:
Ambler: Laure Delignières - press@ambler.fr 06 99 70 01 55
Bpifrance: Sarah Madani - sarah.madani@bpifrance.fr - + 33 1 42 47 96 89
Partech: Isabelle Tresson - itresson@partechpartners.com- +33 7 86 08 85 85
Ambler in a few figures:
About Bpifrance
Bpifrance's equity investments are made by Bpifrance Investissement. Bpifrance finances companies - at every stage of their development - in credit, guarantees and equity. Bpifrance supports them in their innovation and international projects. Bpifrance also ensures their export activity through a wide range of products. Consulting, university, networking and acceleration programs for start-ups, SMEs and ETIs are also part of the offer proposed to entrepreneurs.
Thanks to Bpifrance and its 50 regional offices, entrepreneurs benefit from a close, unique and efficient contact to help them face their challenges. More information on: www.Bpifrance.fr - Follow on Twitter : @Bpifrance - @BpifrancePress
About Partech
With a portfolio of almost 180 companies spread across 30 countries in Europe, the US, Africa, and Asia, Partech has been one of the leading international investors helping visionary founders for almost 40 years. The Partech team – made up of both former entrepreneurs and executives from 15 different countries – brings capital, experience, strategic support, and networks to entrepreneurs at every stage of development: seed, venture, and growth. With over €1.5B under management, Partech invests from €200K to €50M in B2B and B2C technologies reshaping industries. Companies backed by Partech have completed more than 21 IPOs and more than 50 strategic M&A transactions valued over $100M.
See Partech's current portfolio.
About Idinvest Partners
Idinvest Partners is a leading European mid-market private equity firm. With €8bn under management, the firm has developed several areas of expertise including innovative startup venture capital transactions; mid-market private debt, i.e. senior and subordinated debt; primary and secondary investment and private equity advisory services. Founded in 1997, Idinvest Partners used to belong to the Allianz Group until 2010, when it branched out as an independent firm. In January 2018, Idinvest Partners became a subsidiary of Eurazeo, a leading global investment company, with a diversified portfolio of €17.7bn in assets under management, including nearly €11.6bn from investment partners, invested in nearly 400 companies.
About Kima Ventures
Kima Ventures is the startup investment vehicle of Xavier Niel. One of the world’s most active early stage investors, Kima invests in 100 startups per year from Seed to Series A. Based at Station F in Paris, Kima has invested in close to 700 startups since 2010, including Transferwise, Trainline, Zenly, Payfit, Docker, and Ledger – offering financing, networks, and support to help them reach the next step of their journeys.
*Article80 of France’s Social Security Financing Bill of 2017 (PLFSS)
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