FORMEL Skin

# High-Level Overview

FORMEL Skin is a Berlin-based digital dermatology platform that delivers personalized medical treatments for chronic skin conditions entirely online.[1][2] Founded in 2019, the company has grown into Europe's leading digital dermatology provider, serving tens of thousands of monthly users and delivering over 2 million treatments.[1] The platform addresses a fundamental market inefficiency: in Europe, patients with chronic skin conditions face long wait times, expensive private care, or inadequate public healthcare due to a shortage of dermatologists and poor reimbursement structures for doctors.[2][4]

The company operates on a subscription model (€49 per month) that combines three core elements: digital consultations via mobile app, personalized care from in-house doctors, and individualized medicated products created by partner pharmacies and shipped monthly to patients.[2][3] FORMEL Skin has demonstrated exceptional growth momentum, achieving 7x annual growth and raising over €36 million in funding since inception, with treatment outcomes showing more than 90 percent improvement rates.[1][2]

# Origin Story

FORMEL Skin was founded in December 2019 by three complementary co-founders: Florian Semler (former project leader at BCG New York focused on healthcare strategy), Anton Kononov (former Chief Product and Chief Medical Officer at marketplace startup Caroobi), and Dr. Sarah Bechstein (medical doctor since 2013 with a PhD in Dermatology).[4] This combination of healthcare strategy expertise, product development experience, and deep medical credentials proved essential to building credibility in a regulated industry.

The founding insight emerged from recognizing that over 1.5 billion people globally suffer from dermatological conditions that could be diagnosed and treated remotely, yet the European healthcare system systematically failed these patients.[2][4] In Germany specifically, the system prioritized more lucrative treatments like surgical procedures, leaving chronic skin condition patients marginalized with wait times exceeding six months for rushed consultations and generic treatment plans.[2] The company launched its platform in June 2020 and rapidly scaled, delivering 150,000 treatments within two years and eventually exceeding 2 million treatments by late 2025.[2][4][1]

# Core Differentiators

• Medical-grade personalization at scale: Unlike generic telehealth platforms, FORMEL Skin assigns each patient a personal doctor who creates individualized treatment plans and adjusts them monthly based on patient feedback and clinical results, rather than offering one-size-fits-all solutions.[3]

• Proprietary product line: The company manufactures its own medicated products through pharmacy partnerships, enabling tighter control over treatment efficacy and creating a recurring revenue stream beyond consultation fees.[2][3]

• Clinical validation and university partnerships: FORMEL Skin has established partnerships with leading European universities and demonstrated treatment outcomes exceeding 90 percent improvement rates, setting a measurable clinical standard that differentiates it from consumer wellness apps.[1]

• Data-driven iteration: The platform collects continuous patient data through the app, enabling smarter ongoing treatment decisions and informing product development with real-world evidence.[2]

• Regulatory-first approach: Founded after Germany's 2019 Digital Healthcare Act, the company was built from inception to operate within regulated healthcare frameworks, avoiding the compliance challenges that plague later-stage pivots.[2]

# Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

FORMEL Skin exemplifies the convergence of three powerful trends: the digitization of regulated healthcare, the rise of chronic disease management platforms, and the European healthtech boom following regulatory clarity. The company rides the wave of governments recognizing that digital-first care can simultaneously improve outcomes and reduce costs—a compelling narrative for both patients and payers.

The timing has been critical. Germany's 2019 Digital Healthcare Act created a regulatory pathway that was absent just years earlier, allowing FORMEL Skin to operate legally where competitors faced legal uncertainty.[2] Simultaneously, the global dermatology market exceeds $200 billion, with chronic conditions representing a massive addressable market that traditional healthcare systems have systematically underserved.[4] FORMEL Skin's success has influenced the broader European healthtech ecosystem by demonstrating that vertical integration (combining software, medical expertise, and manufacturing) can create defensible competitive advantages in regulated markets.

The company's December 2025 acquisition by UK healthtech platform MANUAL signals a broader consolidation trend: successful European digital health specialists are being rolled up into larger platforms seeking to expand beyond single specialties.[1] This positions FORMEL Skin as a proof point that specialized digital health companies can achieve sufficient scale and profitability to attract strategic acquirers.

# Quick Take & Future Outlook

FORMEL Skin has transitioned from a high-growth startup to an established market leader, and its acquisition by MANUAL marks a strategic inflection point rather than an exit. The combined entity aims to expand beyond dermatology into broader health conditions, leveraging FORMEL Skin's proven playbook—personalized digital care, clinical validation, and proprietary products—across new therapeutic areas.[1]

The company's influence on the broader ecosystem will likely manifest in two ways: first, as a template for how European healthtech companies can build defensible, regulated businesses through clinical rigor and vertical integration; second, as part of a larger consolidation wave that may reshape European digital health into fewer, larger platforms with multiple specialties. The next frontier for FORMEL Skin will be whether the MANUAL acquisition can successfully replicate its dermatology success in adjacent conditions—a challenge that will test whether the company's competitive advantages are truly transferable or specific to dermatology's unique market dynamics.