They have a product so good that customers are creating their own Instagram fan accounts to show off results, and a business model that offers a solution to a “broken” European patient experience. Meet FORMEL Skin, the healthtech startup that has become one of Europe’s fastest-growing startups, thanks to 7x annual growth and over €36m in funding since it was founded in 2019.

The Berlin-based startup was founded by Dr. Sarah Bechstein, Florian Semler, and Anton Kononov to address the needs of over 1.5 billion people globally who suffer from dermatological conditions that could be diagnosed and treated remotely. In Germany, sufferers of chronic skincare conditions are marginalized by a system that prioritizes patients needing more lucrative treatments, such as operations or aesthetic procedures. Due to a lack of dermatologists and a poor reimbursement structure for doctors, patients face wait times of up to six months to receive a hurried consultation and a generic treatment plan.

With its €49 per month subscription model, FORMEL Skin simplifies the entire patient journey and treatment experience. The digital platform provides a more efficient framework, with faster access to care and better outcomes in treating skin conditions including acne, rosacea, and melasma, using a three-pronged approach: digital consultations via the app, in-house doctors who provide personalized care, and individualized treatment plans with their own line of medicated products. The app also collects data to provide smarter ongoing treatment and better-informed medical decisions.

Following 2019’s Digital Healthcare Act, Germany’s historically analog medical system has made way for healthtech startups. Since its launch in 2020, FORMEL Skin has exceeded 150,000 treatments, and cofounder Florian Semler says, “Our vision is to build a digital dermatological clinic to tackle a broad set of skin conditions and to define the new gold standard of treatment for each one of them.” In 2021, the company raised €30m in Series A funding, the largest ever Series A round for a German healthtech company. Thus far, FORMEL Skin’s focus has been localized to Germany and Switzerland, but the company plans to use funding to expand both its target markets and the dermatological conditions under its purview.

To support its ambitious growth plans. FORMEL Skin participated in a 2021 cohort of Google for Startups Growth Academy, an eight-week program designed to address the resource gap that affects female founders. In Europe, only 6% of CEOs are women and only 1.1% of overall VC funding goes to female-founded companies; the program supports women founders by sharing proven growth strategies as well as mentorship, networking, and funding opportunities. Co-founder Dr. Sarah Bechstein says that Growth Academy was instrumental in helping the company define its key growth objectives, as well as providing much-needed support. “Meeting all of these smart, like-minded people with whom I could share our vulnerabilities helped me during my daily business at FORMEL Skin, and also in my personal growth. After the Growth Academy program, we were able to refine our absolute north star.”