KonsultaMD tapped an ‘unfair advantage’ to grow. Can it become a leading healthtech player?

This is the second installment of a two-part series on Globe and its tech ecosystem. Read the first part here.

KonsultaMD’s pedigree as a company backed by Philippine property developer Ayala and major telecom provider Globe has given the healthtech firm an “unfair” head start. That’s a fact its CEO isn’t afraid to admit.

KonsultaMD CEO Susana Beatriz Latay (center) took over the helm as CEO in January. She plans to take the firm to net profitability by 2028. / Photo: KonsultaMD

“Obviously, being part of Globe, [we] have a clear, unfair advantage,” KonsultaMD CEO Susana Beatriz Latay tells Tech in Asia.

KonsultaMD was launched by 917Ventures, Globe’s corporate venture builder, in 2015 as a teleconsultation platform. Eight years and a merger later, it’s evolved into a health “super app” that also provides medicine delivery and offers a “marketplace” of healthcare providers.

Many of the partners that are integral to the platform – including insurance companies, health maintenance organizations (HMOs), and healthcare providers – work with KonsultaMD precisely because of the firm’s notable backers, the CEO suggests.

Having a relationship with Globe and Ayala is “extremely important before [healthcare] providers even start talking to us,” says Latay, who took on the CEO role in January.

While many of these firms “typically won’t sign with any platform, they know that we’re very careful about data, professional with our infrastructure, and keen on our security,” she adds.

These advantages could make a difference in the keenly contested healthtech market in the Philippines, where there is fewer than one doctor per 1,000 patients.

Creating a health “super app”

A new KonsultaMD app was launched last May after a merger between medicine delivery service HealthNow and home care and diagnostic services firm Aide.

Both companies are linked to Ayala’s healthcare arm AC Health. HealthNow started as a collaboration between AC Health and 917Ventures, while Aide was acquired by HealthNow in February 2022.

On KonsultaMD, a patient can speak to a primary care doctor (general practitioner) within five minutes, obtain a prescription, select a preferred drug store, hospital, or clinic, and have medicine delivered to them, Latay explains.

What many teleconsultation platforms fail to do is help patients navigate post-consultation care, as they typically focus on linking patients up with general practitioners. KonsultaMD’s marketplace of healthcare providers claims to change that.

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