Splose, an AI-start-up for physios and chiropractors raises $5m from EVP to take on UK market

A former Woolworths checkout operator from Adelaide has raised $5m after building an all-in-one administration platform for use by physiotherapists and chiropractors.

Splose founder Nicholas Sanderson. Picture: Supplied

A former Woolworths checkout operator from Adelaide has raised $5m after building an all-in-one platform for the likes of physiotherapists and chiropractors, which uses artificial intelligence and automation to book follow-up appointments and transcribe prac­tice notes.

Nicholas Sanderson has built Splose, a subscription ($30) practice management software platform that has picked up more than 15,000 customers across Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

Mr Sanderson came up with the idea while operating checkouts at Woolworths in 2019.

“I kind of only ever worked at Woolworths and during my time there I developed a passion for technology … so this is my first proper job after university,” he told The Australian.

Mr Sanderson said he’d always been fascinated by the internet and the opportunities it presented and as a teenager experimented with selling things from around his home on eBay.

He later studied eCommerce at the University of Adelaide and took courses in website building, where he worked for several allied health service providers and later decided to turn his ideas into an all-in-one platform.

Allied health management software start-up Splose's software engineers Hao Wang, left, Roozbeh Hajizadeh and founder Mr Sanderson, right.

“As I dived deeper into the challenges that they were facing after building a website which were centred around practice management and the clunky processes that they were using to manage their business, it just didn’t seem right,” he said.

Splose, as the platform later became known, was one of the few businesses that was able to thrive during the pandemic.

“Business didn’t really slow and we had a telehealth integration available for customers so if practitioners couldn’t provide support they were using our telehealth option,” he said.

Splose is one of dozens of new start-ups that have found a niche in the health sector as employers and medical professionals increasingly turn to technology to help manage practices.

As AI has begun to boom, the start-up has been able to leverage the use of OpenAI’s services to ­develop transcription note-taking services as well as a soon to be ­released calendar feature.

Those features cost an additional $30 per month.

Rather than patients looking through a practitioner’s calendar, they’d now be able to answer a few queries via an AI agent.

“With our new AI, you can simply fill in a few details and it will look through the calendars and present the best options of practitioners for you,” Mr Sanderson said. “We’re looking to automate everything from intake to invoicing, so essentially you’d be able to pick it up as a platform and it can run your whole business, from onboarding clients to invoicing, sending referral forms and calendar management.”

The start-up’s $5m capital raise, was led by Sydney-based EVP, which has invested $350m across a total of 45 businesses.

The firm’s investment principal, Mark Velik, said EVP was impressed with how fast Splose had been able to grow organically.

“The Splose team has built a best-in-class platform that is revolutionising how allied health professionals manage their practices,” he said.

“We’re excited to be partnering with the leading AI-powered PMS that’s transforming practice management in an industry that’s long been overlooked by modern technology.”

Originally published as Splose, an AI-start-up for physios and chiropractors raises $5m from EVP to take on UK market