Brunei prince invests in Malaysian healthtech startup BookDoc

Photo credit: Philip Choi

BookDoc, a Malaysian healthtech startup, announced it has closed a seed round led by Prince Abdul Qawi, a nephew of the Brunei sultan.

BookDoc, launched in October 2015, is an app for people to search and book doctors. More than that, it lets employers monitor their staff’s health and medical coverage, as well as manage their medical benefits.

It seems like a cross between Zocdoc, an online doctor booking service, and CXA, a service for corporations to finetune employee benefits.

The startup says it has achieved the highest ever pre-seed valuation in Asia, at seven-digits US dollars. This is probably false though, given the number of startups in Tech in Asia’s database with seed rounds exceeding US$10 million, so BookDoc’s claim should be taken with a pinch of salt.

BookDoc’s spokesperson didn’t disclose exact growth and revenue figures, but she said that its paying clients include Frost & Sullivan, University of Nottingham, Tricor Group, and two which cannot be named: an Asian telco and a regional logistics company.

BookDoc plans to expand to Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines in the next few months.

Bookdoc founder Chevy Beh (left)

Chevy Beh, the co-founder of BookDoc, is the son of Beh Chun Chuan, the founder and chairman of BP Healthcare, a Malaysian medical services group that was started 34 years ago and has over 1,200 employees and 20 subsidiaries today.

Chevy was a managing director in the family-run business, which has not disclosed its revenues to the public.

Joel Neoh, who founded and sold two Malaysian startups, Groupon Malaysia and Says.com, is also listed as a founder of BookDoc. However, he’s currently running Kfit, a site for people to subscribe to fitness services. Given the all-consuming nature of startups, it might be hard for Joel to juggle both, but BookDoc says he is involved only as an “active advisor.”

“Chevy is more involved in the day-to-day operations,” says the spokesperson.

BookDoc also announced it has secured a partnership with transportation app GrabTaxi, though the nature of the tie-up is unclear. Chevy joins Anthony Tan as founders in Malaysia’s startup scene who hail from prominent business families.