Every missed healthcare appointment represents more than just an empty slot in a calendar. For medical and dental practices, no shows and last minute cancellations create lost revenue, disrupt schedules, increase administrative workloads, and limit access to care for other patients waiting for appointments. While healthcare providers have long relied on reminder calls and waiting lists to manage the problem, these methods often require significant manual effort and still fail to prevent a large number of missed visits. Belgian startup TurnUp is using artificial intelligence to address this challenge, and the company has now secured fresh funding to accelerate its expansion.
The Ghent based company has raised €2 million in a seed funding round led by Newion, with participation from RDY Ventures.
The investment will support the company’s commercial growth, product development efforts, and expansion into new healthcare markets, particularly the United Kingdom.
Tackling a Major Healthcare Inefficiency
Missed appointments remain one of the most expensive operational challenges facing healthcare providers worldwide.
Healthcare organisations lose substantial amounts of revenue each year because of patients who fail to attend scheduled appointments or cancel at the last minute.
At the same time, reception teams often spend hours manually contacting patients, maintaining waiting lists, sending reminders, and trying to fill newly available appointment slots.
These processes are repetitive, labour intensive, and difficult to scale as practices grow.
Recognising this widespread challenge, TurnUp was founded in 2022 by Nicolas De Bruyne and Jona Decubber. In 2024, investor Koen Lepez joined the company as Chief Executive Officer to help drive its next phase of growth.
Using AI to Predict Missed Appointments
TurnUp has developed an artificial intelligence platform that integrates directly with existing practice management systems used by healthcare providers.
Rather than simply sending reminders, the platform analyses historical patient behaviour, scheduling patterns, and other relevant factors to identify appointments that are most likely to result in a no show.
Once potential risks are identified, the system automatically engages patients with targeted communications designed to confirm attendance or encourage rescheduling before a slot is lost.
By proactively addressing potential cancellations, practices can reduce disruptions and improve appointment utilisation rates.
The company believes predictive intelligence offers a more effective solution than traditional reminder systems that treat every appointment the same way.
Automating Administrative Workflows
In addition to predicting missed appointments, TurnUp’s platform automates a range of administrative tasks that are typically handled by reception teams.
The system manages appointment confirmations, cancellations, rescheduling requests, and waiting list coordination automatically.
A key component of the platform is Elissa, TurnUp’s AI powered receptionist.
Elissa can communicate with patients in multiple languages and operate outside normal office hours, allowing practices to engage patients even when staff are unavailable.
This helps healthcare providers reduce administrative workloads while ensuring patients receive timely communication regarding their appointments.
The result is a more efficient scheduling process that maximises available capacity and improves patient engagement.
Growing Adoption Across Europe
TurnUp has already established a strong presence in the healthcare sector.
The company currently serves more than 250 practices across Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
Its customer base includes more than 2,500 dentists and healthcare professionals.
According to the company, its platform has helped prevent more than 500,000 missed appointments while saving practice managers and reception teams tens of thousands of hours of administrative work.
These results have demonstrated the potential value of AI driven scheduling optimisation for healthcare providers seeking to improve operational efficiency.
Expanding Into New Markets
The newly secured funding will be used to strengthen TurnUp’s commercial operations and expand its technical team.
A major focus will be accelerating growth in the United Kingdom, where the company is already running a pilot programme involving a group of 400 healthcare practices.
Looking ahead, TurnUp aims to extend its reach beyond its current markets and become a broader healthcare operations platform for providers across Europe and eventually the United States.
As healthcare systems continue searching for ways to improve efficiency and patient access, TurnUp is positioning itself as a technology partner capable of reducing no shows, automating administrative work, and helping practices make better use of every available appointment slot.
