Do not tell him that he took advantage of the crisis. Stanislas Niox-Château, founder of Doctolib, is offended that we can attribute such intentions to him. “We put 100% of the teams at the service of the general interest”, he says, stressing that this mobilization has forced him to postpone many projects. The Covid-19 pandemic has however proved to be a formidable accelerator for the business of this start-up, which has become essential for the French.
Apart from making “classic” medical appointments, which has made it so successful, the digital platform is now the go-to intermediary for getting vaccinated against Covid-19. Doctolib manages access to vaccination centers at 90%. Before Ascension weekend, up to 500,000 people per day could find a window to access their injection. And the number of registered on the site has soared, reaching 50 million (45 million in France, the balance in Germany), against 40 million at the end of 2019.
When the epidemic arose in China at the beginning of 2020, the company could not imagine that it would change dimension thanks to it. “At that time, for us, it was still rather vague. Like everyone else, we weren’t ready ”, remembers Mr. Niox-Château. So much so that its new premises – 13,000 square meters on the banks of the Seine, in Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine) – could quickly become too small.
In one year, the “unicorn” – these start-ups valued at more than $ 1 billion – hired 700 recruits, bringing its workforce to 1,700 employees. And the company does not intend to ease off. In April, around 100 new employees joined it, and its website still posts nearly 200 job offers – in particular to develop the product and strengthen the sales teams in France, Germany and Italy. Yet she is still very young.
Fast take-off
Fresh out of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales in Paris (HEC), Stanislas Niox-Château is launching Balinea, a beauty treatment reservation site. Then he took part in the LaFourchette adventure, a restaurant reservation site, bought by TripAdvisor in 2014. With Doctolib, founded in 2013, he entered the world of medicine, where obtaining a consultation became more and more difficult. The promise of service: no need to wait long minutes on the phone to make an appointment or to find the available professional closest to you. A few clicks are enough.
You have 71.27% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.