TurnUp raises €2 million to help healthcare providers reduce no-shows

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.