How Tivita aims to become the ‘financial ERP’ for LatAm health

Tivita, a Brazilian fintech focused on the financial management of clinics and medical offices, is readying new services for the sector, including a digital account, while eyeing Colombia and Mexico as markets for expansion in Latin America, co-founder and CEO Claudio Franco told BNamericas.

All of this comes after the company closed a US$6mn seed funding round last month, just one year after its creation. The investment was led by the FinTech Collective fund, with participation from K50 Ventures, MAYA Capital and SSV.

"We see Tivita as capable of reimagining financial management in healthcare in all of Latin America. This is the largest investment made by the fund in Brazil since its origin,” Carlos Alonso-Torras, partner at FinTech Collective, said in a release.

Since going live with the product in January, the company has lined up 120 clients in 16 Brazilian states. Tivita offers its solution in two contracting models: a fixed monthly subscription for health teams and a flexible postpaid model for offices that serve up to 100 patients per month. 

Franco and his partner Amilton Paglia both have unicorns in their track record. The first is a former CMO at Gympass/Wellhub while Paglia was CPO for Olist.  

In this interview, Franco talks about the fintech's plans.

BNamericas: How was Tivita structured?

Franco: I have two children and when you have children you end up having very intense contact with the health sector. You have to deliver the baby, take it to the doctor, emergency room, pharmacy, etc. And this intense life ended up making me very curious to understand why the health sector, which is one of the most important in any economy, was so far behind from a technology standpoint in Brazil.

I worked with gyms at Gympass, I worked with schools at Isaac, which is a fintech for private schools. And these sectors were much more advanced. That's when last year I decided to explore some theses, all of them in the health area.

I tested some ideas before arriving at the thesis of Tivita. And when I arrived at that, I looked for the person who would be most complementary. I didn't want to do it alone, so I found a partner and teamed up with Amilton, who has experience in technology, product design and product construction.

BNamericas: And what is the thesis?

Franco: We talked to health professionals, those who had recently graduated, those who had just opened their first office and those who are already more established, those who were entrepreneurs, had several clinics, were partners in several businesses in the area.

And the first thing we realized was: no matter the size of the health unit, cash management was done in Excel, even those who had hired the best management systems available in Brazil. 

They managed all scheduling and clinical records in that software. And everything else, knowing how much each professional earns, how much they have to pay to suppliers, partner doctors, whether they need credit, all of that was done in Excel or on paper in some cases.

The vast majority of software available today in Brazil was built with the principle of being a tool to help those in the clinic. But the second generation of software, which we had already experienced and mastered, is the one in which you teach the software to do a person's job. That didn’t exist in the healthcare sector.

The third thing we discovered is that the concept of embedded finance, which is having financial products integrated with software, didn’t exist in the healthcare area. 

We have put all of this together.

BNamericas: How is the platform structured?

Franco: The first thing we focused on was automating manual tasks in clinics. For instance, if you visit a doctor and pay for your consultation via PIX [instant payment service], we automatically capture this payment, process it and generate an invoice, which is sent to you via WhatsApp. This eliminates the need for interaction with the clinic's secretary or financial officer.

So, the first flow we taught the software was accounts receivable. We still don’t process clinic payments related to health plans, but that’s our next goal. This latest funding round was partly secured to address this need.

BNamericas: How did the discussions with the funds go?

Franco: I was already well-connected with some funds. They often asked me if I planned to start another business and to inform them when I did, as they wanted to be involved. We maintained contact with funds we believed could assist us at various stages. When we updated them on our progress at the beginning of this quarter, they were surprised by our growth. Some even reached out to our customers to gauge their satisfaction and to potential customers we hadn't yet served. All of this generated interest in investing.

BNamericas: You mentioned that a significant portion of the funds will be directed towards processing health plan payments. What else do you intend to do?

Franco: We will build the entire infrastructure to handle health plan payments. Additionally, we will manage payments to doctors within the same clinic. Our largest client today has 13 doctors working in one unit, and each month, they manually calculate payments for each doctor’s services. 

Another key area is scheduling. Scheduling is the first point of contact for patients and a crucial data collection point. Without automation, it creates a lot of operational work to bill patients later. Therefore, we aim to automate this process to facilitate easier billing. Our three major investments by the end of the year will focus on scheduling, doctor payments and health plan billing.

BNamericas: Will you compete with the more established ERPs for the health sector? Don’t they handle this management part?

Franco: I see the market divided into three segments. The enterprise market serves hospitals and healthcare providers, dominated by Tasy [owned by Philips], MV, and Pixeon, which cover most hospitals in Brazil. This market demands significant investment, integration and data security, with projects customized for each client. This isn’t our expertise. 

The middle market includes medium-sized clinics served by iClinic, Feegow and Amigo, with Amigo recently closing a huge round with Riverwood. Then, there's the long tail—small clinics and individual practitioners, who are often very price-sensitive and may not even have a secretary. 

We’re targeting the middle market and the long tail, finding great acceptance among self-employed professionals and growing significantly in the middle market segment.

BNamericas: You talked about scheduling. Do you aim to be an ERP for the healthcare sector beyond financial management?

Franco: Yes, but with two key differences. First, we won’t be a productivity tool. Everything we launch will help our clients automate manual tasks. Second, we will integrate with financial systems. For example, we plan to launch a digital account, integrating the payment system with the financial system, allowing customers to make and receive payments directly through that account.

BNamericas: When do you plan to launch this?

Franco: The digital account is planned for 2025. It’s not our priority yet, as there’s still a lot of work to be done.

BNamericas: Are you interested in expanding to Latin America? Are there any ongoing discussions?

Franco: We’re exploring markets similar to Brazil that aren’t as advanced in payment systems. Mexico is a significant market, the second largest in Latin America, with a similar supplementary healthcare system. However, it’s not as advanced in payment methods. We’re monitoring Mexico’s regulatory evolution and the reduction in cash usage. 

Another promising market is Colombia, which is progressing faster in payment methods and technology adoption due to its young population, despite being less advanced in health tech compared to Brazil. Both markets offer opportunities, and we aim to lead in financial and healthcare automation technology in Latin America. 

Furthermore, the Fintech Collective, which led our funding round, has also invested heavily in Colombia and Mexico.

One of them was at Simetrik, an incredible Colombian company. They’re already huge in the US and received a big round from Goldman Sachs. And it was Carlos who discovered them there in Colombia. This synergy is very positive when you have a fund that understands a lot about fintech, understands a lot about the region.