TurnUp, the Ghent-based startup
helping dental and medical practices reduce no-shows and last-minute
cancellations, has raised €2 million in a seed funding round led by Newion,
with participation from RDY Ventures.

Missed appointments remain a costly
challenge for healthcare providers. No-shows are estimated to cost the
healthcare sector hundreds of billions of euros annually, while reception teams
often rely on manual processes such as phone calls, waiting lists and
appointment reminders to fill vacant slots at short notice.

TurnUp was founded in 2022 by Nicolas De Bruyne and Jona Decubber, with Koen Lepez joining as CEO in 2024 after
initially investing in the company. The startup has developed an AI platform
that integrates with existing practice management systems to predict no-shows
and automate follow-up actions.

By analysing historical patient data,
scheduling patterns and external factors, the platform identifies appointments
at risk of being missed and proactively engages patients through targeted
communications.

In addition to its predictive
capabilities, the platform automates tasks such as appointment confirmations,
cancellations, rescheduling and waiting list management. Its AI receptionist,
Elissa, can contact patients across multiple languages and outside regular
office hours, helping practices reduce administrative workloads and make better
use of available appointment capacity.

Today, TurnUp serves more than 250
practices across Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK, covering more than 2,500
dentists. According to the company, the platform has helped prevent more than
500,000 no-shows while saving receptionists and practice managers tens of
thousands of hours of administrative work.

We always start from the same
question: how do we make sure every chair in a practice is filled? No-shows are
the biggest obstacle to occupancy. In Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK,
we’ve shown we can solve that problem. Now we want to do the same for every
care practice in Europe and then the US. The scale is there,

says Koen Lepez, CEO of TurnUp.

The company will use the funding to
expand its commercial operations, strengthen its technical team and accelerate
growth in the UK, where it is already running a pilot programme with a group of
400 healthcare practices.