Nelly wants to become the largest fintech startup in the healthcare industry. The Berlin-based startup already works with more than 1,200 medical institutions in a handful of European countries. But thousands more could benefit from an upgrade to their management workflows.

That's why Nelly recently raised €50 million (about $51 million at current exchange rates) in a Series B round led by Cathay Innovation and Notion Capital. Existing investors b2venture, Lakestar, Motive Ventures and Arc Investors also participated again.

While many industries have completely shifted to digital workflows, Nelly's founding team realized that many medical practices were still lagging behind. "I went to the doctor and I had to fill out all the data with pen and paper. Four weeks later I received a thick letter asking for 120 euros," Nelly co-founder and CEO Niklas Radner told TechCrunch.

The company started with a software-as-a-service product that allows medical practices to serve new patients digitally. Patients book an appointment and receive a confirmation via text message, WhatsApp or email with a link. They can click on the link and fill in their personal details and medical history.

"But the reality today is that more than 50% of appointments are still not scheduled digitally. They are scheduled over the phone or by walking into the clinic," Ladner said. That’s why patients can also scan a QR code in the waiting room to open Nelly’s portal.

Nelly integrates with existing practice management systems behind the scenes. Data is updated and stored in these legacy systems so practices do not have to completely switch to new systems. These connectors are either built in-house by the Nelly team or developed by Nelly's partners.

This entry system serves as the backbone for the rest of the product suite. "You can think of Nelly as the Typeform/DocuSign/Planner for medical practices," Radner said.

On the patient side, in addition to online appointment and onboarding capabilities, patients can pay for care using online payments or a Nelly-managed card reader. Patients can also receive reminders to leave reviews on Google Maps.

For medical practices, Nelly can handle invoicing and billing. This portion can save a medical practice a lot of time because it reduces the time spent on out-of-pocket expenses.

Nelly can also be used as an alternative to corporate bank accounts with expense management systems and corporate credit cards. Finally, Nelly offers factoring services for immediate payment of pending claims.

These powerful integrations within the patient journey and medical practice back-end systems create barriers to entry for other fintech companies. Nelly is also certified in data protection. “We are the first company in the German healthcare sector to send digital invoices,” Ladner said.

The product is currently sold in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It recently expanded to Italy, with more countries coming soon.

"Nelly works with the largest DSOs (dental service organizations) in Europe... We won the deal with Colosseum Dental Group, which operates in 11 European countries. They wanted to expand to 700 locations with Nelly," Radner said. "Therefore, we will expand into more markets in Europe together with our customers."