Keynotes are almost becoming the norm for French unicorns. After Ledger, a company now accustomed to American-style presentations, and more recently Back Market and Doctolib, it was Alan’s turn to take part in the exercise this Tuesday, November 5 in the prestigious setting of the Hôtel de l Industry, in the 6th arrondissement of Paris.
During this event under the banner of “AI, health and prevention”, Jean-Charles Samuelian, co-founder and CEO of Alan, immediately promised new products “to enter a new era of health”. There are three of these new products and they have the following names: Shop, Walk and Mo.
“Make longevity fun, local and rewarding”
The first service presented, Shop, is a marketplace for health and well-being products integrated into the Alan application. The products, divided into around ten categories (nutrition, sleep, weight, stress, fertility, etc.) come from hand-picked French brands, such as Withings, a player in connected health, and Biolane, a specialist in hygiene and health. baby care, and offered at preferential prices for Alan members. “Each product is rigorously evaluated based on its quality, composition and effectiveness. Alan Shop aims to be a true trusted third party for our members”says Mélanie Alsberghue, Product Manager at Alan.
As for the second product unveiled, it is Walk. As its name suggests, it is a step counter, but the French unicorn has decided to add an approach based on gamification. In fact, each step earns points called “berries” (berries in French), which can be exchanged to make donations to associations or obtain discounts on Alan Shop. The points also allow you to personalize a virtual avatar within the application. Behind this approach, the objective is to “making longevity fun, local and rewarding”assures Antoine Moulet, Product Manager at Alan. The latter recognizes that tackling the problem of a sedentary lifestyle is not easy: “Our brains are wired to seek instant gratification.” In other words, we are more easily tempted by a Netflix series than a marathon.
An AI-driven assistant in the app
Last product presented, and not the least, Mo is a health assistant driven by artificial intelligence. Integrated into the chat of the Alan application, it aims to direct users when they have a question even before a doctor is available to answer them. Concretely, Mo asks questions, then delivers recommendations and advice based on the answers given by the user. However, the chatbot is not left to its own devices, since a doctor supervises the conversation to reassure the patient.
Alan hopes to make a real one “health companion” for its members while “10 million questions about health are asked to Google each year in France,” indicates Antoine Lizée, in charge of AI at Alan. “With AI, we are at the dawn of a technological revolution on the same level as the Internet 20 years ago. AI can be scary but it has the potential to transform everyone’s health.he adds. Alan assures that 81% of his members who tested Mo agreed to communicate with this virtual assistant, while 95% of the latter’s conversations were judged “good” or “excellent” by the doctors who took part in the phase of beta test.
Encouraging to respond to small emergencies when the health system is overloaded. In the same vein, Doctolib presented an AI-based consultation assistant a few weeks ago and plans to launch two others next year. Doctolib has been working for more than a year on the creation of these new artificial intelligence solutions. In this sense, the company has mobilized around a hundred employees within a unit dedicated to artificial intelligence.
Nikola Karabatic as a prestigious guest
With these three new products, Jean-Charles Samuelian assures that Alan has presented “a glimpse of the future of health” in which “taking care of yourself becomes as captivating as a Netflix series and as easy as shopping online”. The highlight of this keynote, Nikola Karabatic, three-time Olympic handball champion, was present for a discussion with Alan’s boss on his relationship to health during his career. The opportunity for the French handball legend to salute the investment of tech entrepreneurs. “There is a real link between sport and entrepreneurship. Whether you are a high-level athlete or an entrepreneur, you have to perform well over the long term.”underlined Nikola Karabatic, who notably supports the Teampact Ventures fund.
With this keynote, Alan celebrates a busy year 2024, marked in particular by a Series F of 173 million euros. On this occasion, the French company, now valued at 4 billion euros, joined forces with the second largest bancassurance company in Belgium. Alan also won key contracts in the civil service, notably winning the tender to cover Matignon service agents. To date, the unicorn boasts 680,000 members, 30,000 corporate clients and 470 million euros in recurring annual revenue. It aims for profitability in France from 2025 then globally in 2026. Present in France, Belgium and Spain, the company launched its activities in Canada a few weeks ago.
