Onlinedoctor acquires start-up A.s.s.i.s.t

The teledermatology platform buys the AI startup that wants to diagnose skin diseases with cell phone photos. Onlinedoctor wants to compete with Google in this way.

The Onlinedoctor platform is buying the Tübingen-based start-up A.s.s.i.s.t, completing its first acquisition in the company's history. Both companies are active in the field of dermatology and develop concepts to digitize the diagnosis of skin diseases. With the acquisition, the health start-up aims to bring the first AI-supported medical product in the field of teledermatology to market maturity, thus taking on Google's Dermassist.

Onlinedoctor offers a platform where people can upload photos of affected skin areas and answer questions about them. Feedback from a dermatologist is then supposed to be provided within 48 hours. A.s.s.i.s.t., a startup founded in 2021, has developed a diagnostic tool that will allow AI to make initial assessments of skin conditions through image analysis. It said the prototype already recognizes 30 different skin diseases with 85 percent accuracy. "With the technology, we can now combine the knowledge and experience of our network of specialist physicians into one AI and make it available to each of the 600 dermatologists who work with us. This combination of medical expertise and technology supports physicians' work and increases diagnostic quality," says Philipp Wustrow, co-founder of Onlinedoctor.

Wustrow founded Onlinedoctor together with Tobias Wolf and Paul Scheidegger in 2016. The company cooperates with around 600 dermatologists and 40 health insurance companies. With the acquisition of the Tübingen-based start-up, Onlinedoctor gains expertise in the field of artificial intelligence. To make the technology market-ready, the founders now want to collect clinical data and further develop the product.