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Kry Names Ex-Spotify Strategy Head Stefan Blom to COO Role

Kry Names Ex-Spotify Strategy Head Stefan Blom to COO Role

Kry International AB hired former Spotify Technology SA executive Stefan Blom to help the Swedish medical app developer push into new markets and services.

Blom was chief content officer and chief strategy officer at streaming music company Spotify. He left in 2018 -- shortly before it went public in a direct listing -- and joined Kry in May this year.

Digital health services have boomed during the Covid-19 pandemic as patients and doctors looked for ways to expand access to care. Kry, which also operates under the name Livi, has quadrupled its revenue in the space of a year to more than 100 million euros ($118 million) on an annual basis.

Kry Names Ex-Spotify Strategy Head Stefan Blom to COO Role

“This is a massive industry that is due to transform,” Blom said in a video interview.

The company’s basic service allows patients to chat with doctors using an app. Now it’s branching out to become “a whole-health journey,” Blom said. “It doesn’t mean that we are doing everything ourselves. It means we’re working with partners. We will use our ears a lot.”

Ultimately, Kry wants to offer doctors a broader toolkit to make better decisions about patient care, collaborate on approaches to treating certain conditions and making parts of patients’ medical records easily available digitally, said Blom and Chief Executive Officer Johannes Schildt. The company also wants to help with more administrative tasks, such as handling repeat prescriptions and scheduling follow-up appointments.

Schildt said the medical app industry’s growing popularity is helping to ease regulatory bottlenecks in markets where Kry would like to expand.

The service is available in the U.K., Sweden, France, Norway and Germany. Schildt said he’s interested in eventually adding more markets in Europe as long as he can do so “without over-stretching.” In June, Kry acquired Helsa, a Swedish chain of health centers.

The company, which raised $155 million from investors in January, doesn’t have an immediate need for more funds, though Schildt said he’s planning to continue operating at a loss in the near term as he expands the business. Kry will consider an initial public offering at some point, though the company will remain private in the immediate future, he said.

Blom also joined the boards of online education startup Kahoot! and audiobook service Storytel this year.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.