Behind the Term Sheet: Nelly’s €50M Series B

The Berlin-Based Fintech Revolutionizing Healthcare Payments & Practice Management

By: Costanza Carissimo & Colombe Moinet

Healthcare is one of the most critical sectors globally, and yet, it faces hurdles that often hinder the delivery of quality care. Overloaded administrative tasks, convoluted billing processes and outdated systems weigh caregivers down, drawing attention away from what truly matters: patients.

At Cathay Innovation, we’re always on the lookout for groundbreaking solutions that elevate the quality of care through technology. That’s why we’re proud to announce our investment in Berlin-based fintech Nelly, leading its €50M Series B alongside Notion Capital, b2venture, Lakestar, Motive Ventures and arc investors.

By reimagining healthcare payments and management, we believe Nelly has all the potential to become the leading fintech in Europe’s healthcare sector — becoming the Financial Operating System for medical practices. Here’s why.

The Nelly Team

THE NEED FOR CHANGE: TACKLING FRAGMENTATION IN HEALTHCARE

Small and medium-sized healthcare practices face an overwhelming mix of operational challenges. Billing is a labyrinth of complexity, payment collections are riddled with inefficiencies, and patient data systems are often fragmented and clunky. Meanwhile, rising costs are pushing providers to do more with less.

Consider this:

70% of European healthcare professionals view outdated administrative processes as a major barrier to efficiency and patient satisfaction (McKinsey & Company) — an unsurprising conclusion with the #1 software used by GPs dating back to 1987.

On the other side of the equation, patients — like modern consumers — expect their healthcare providers to offer seamless, digital-first experiences. They’re tired of redundant paperwork and seek transparent payment options, flexible financing and intuitive digital tools to manage their healthcare experiences.

The future of healthcare is digital. Several trends are accelerating this shift: growing adoption of digital tools, the rise of embedded fintech, and the increasing demand for payment flexibility. As providers face burnout and staff shortages, digital platforms like Nelly’s are not just helpful — they’re essential.

ENTER NELLY — REVOLUTIONIZING FINANCIAL OPERATIONS IN HEALTHCARE

Nelly Founding Team

Nelly steps in where the traditional approach falls short, blending healthcare and fintech, offering a platform that digitalizes patient billing, automates administrative workflows, and incorporates financial solutions directly into practice management software (PMS). This dual approach transforms practices: making operations smoother for providers and payment simpler for patients.

What Nelly Offers Today:

• The Patient Experience Platform: A mobile-first solution that simplifies every step of the patient journey, from onboarding and scheduling to digital billing and payment plans. Designed to complement — not replace — preexisting software, this ensures transparency and ease for patients.
• The Financial Operating System (FinOS): A fully integrated financial platform tailored for professionals. It combines tools like factoring, expense handling, and installment payment plans with operational software to create a cohesive ecosystem.

By streamlining back-office operations and automating routine, time-consuming tasks, Nelly empowers medical practitioners to redirect their focus where it belongs: patient care.

Here’s what excites us most about Nelly:

RIGHT TEAM, RIGHT TIME: When we first met Co-Founder and CEO Niklas Radner in January 2023, it was clear that him and his team were tackling one of the most urgent pain points in healthcare. And with several members of the founding team coming from a successful stint at Klarna, they also bring a strong fintech track record to the table. Over the past two years, the team’s impressive execution has validated our belief in Nelly’s potential to lead healthcare’s ongoing transformation.

THE TRACTION: Nelly’s track record speaks volumes: over 1,200 doctors onboarded and 2M patients already benefiting from the service, a diverse client roster that includes both small clinics and larger chains, and a scalable model designed for sustainable growth. As we spoke with potential clients and key players across multiple countries, we realized that the market potential is vast. In Germany alone, digitization presents a massive opportunity, and Nelly’s ability to expand into other European markets sets the stage for an even broader impact — for instance, they just recently successfully entered the Italian market. As the platform incorporates advanced tools like AI and machine learning, its capacity to optimize workflows and enhance financial accessibility will only grow.

THE MARKET: Unlike other players in either healthcare or fintech, Nelly offers the best of both worlds. By embedding financial tools directly into the patient journey and PMS platforms, the company simplifies administrative burdens while unlocking the full potential of data — enabling seamless financial integrations that enhance the experience for both practices and patients.

Where legacy PMS providers struggle to innovate, and B2C tools like Doctolib stop short of financial integration, Nelly bridges the gap. Even standalone financial solutions, such as factoring providers, fail to embed themselves into daily workflows — a key advantage Nelly has mastered.

Nelly’s competitive edge lies in the synergies of its dual offering: a SaaS platform for automating workflows and a suite of bespoke financial products. Together, they drive operational efficiency and elevate patient care, creating a truly frictionless healthcare journey — from scheduling and billing to financing and beyond.

PARTING THOUGHTS: SMART, SEAMLESS & PATIENT-CENTRIC HEALTHCARE

At Cathay Innovation, we seek companies that do more than build great products — they drive meaningful change. Fintech and healthcare are two of our major areas of interest, having backed game-changers such as Nabla, Resilience or Sidecar Health. Nelly sits at the intersection of both sectors, adding significant value by merging operational excellence with patient-centered financial tools, solving some of the most pressing challenges in healthcare today.

By automating administrative processes and simplifying payment systems, Nelly ensures that healthcare practices can operate efficiently while delivering better patient experiences. Importantly, this increases the attractiveness of one of the most systemically relevant professions.

We’re thrilled to join the Nelly journey during this exciting stage of growth — well positioned to become Europe’s leading fintech in healthcare — while revolutionizing healthcare payments and practice management. We look forward to bringing our global resources and ecosystem, including leading industry players in financial services and healthcare, to support the Nelly team as they expand their platform, redefine the modern patient experiences and help providers thrive in the modern world.

Careers — Nelly

Interesting in helping shape the healthcare system of tomorrow? Nelly is hiring! Check out open positions below.

[embed]Nelly | Jobs Wir sind immer auf der Suche nach talentierten Mitarbeitenden.www.getnelly.de

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