Altibbi, the digital health platform, has raised $44 million in funding, in one of the largest single funding rounds for a healthcare and medical technology company in the region.
The financing round, which exceeded the target value, includes a number of strategic and financial investors led by Foundation Holdings and Hikma Ventures, in addition to a number of existing investors such as Global Ventures and Dash Ventures.
Jason Kothari, principal advisor at Foundation Holdings, is set to join the platform’s board of directors to represent Foundation.
Altibbi hosts on its website more than one million pages of Arab medical content, published 6 scientific researches, conducted 4.5 million telehealth consultations so far, has more than 20 million monthly visitors to its platform, and provides health services in 7 regional countries with more than From 1500 certified doctors.
How Are They Directing the New Investment?
The startup said in its statement that it will “use the new funding to expand its presence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and expand the scope of its electronic platform services to include digital pharmacy services and sample collection for Laboratory and radiology so that it becomes the first regional platform specialized in providing integrated primary healthcare services.”
Altibbi will also increase its investments in machine learning to support doctors’ efforts in providing appropriate diagnoses, medical referrals and more accurate prescriptions, according to the statement.
Spending on healthcare services in the Gulf countries will reach $104.6 billion this year, according to a report issued by Alpen Capital, which forecasts that the healthcare sector in Saudi Arabia in particular will expand at a cumulative annual growth rate of 7% during the period 2019-2024.
Since its establishment in 2011; Altibbi succeeded in attracting more than $50 million in financing and retains a variety of shareholders including Endeavor Catalyst, Middle East Venture Partners, and Al-Rashed.
The global digital health market size exceeded $142 billion in 2020, and is expected to grow by more than 17% annually until 2027. The size of the healthcare and telemedicine market in the Middle East and North Africa is expected to reach $2 billion in 2024.
Al-Tibbi participated in providing hotline services dedicated to “Covid-19” in Egypt: the company launched two hotlines through the public-private partnership model with the Supreme Council of Universities in May 2020, and last year launched a medical consultation service over the phone in Egypt, which targets Those who do not have access to a smartphone or internet connection.
The platform also provides free medical consultations to plasma donors in partnership with the National Blood Plasma Project of the Ministry of Health.
About Altibbi platform
Altibbi was launched in 2011, and is the first and largest digital health platform in the region. The site receives more than 20 million visitors per month and provides three million consultations annually.
Al-Tibbi has assumed a unique position, and has become a major influence on the health care value chain in the Arab world, which contributes to providing quality health care services at the lowest prices for individuals, institutions, health insurance companies and the public sector.
Al-Tibbi’s mission is also to provide affordable and high-quality health care, making it accessible to everyone in the Arab world, from the ocean to the Gulf and its safe haven for everything related to their health, with a clear ambition to be the first digital health service provider to be offered for public subscription. Rather, it is the pioneer of this type of digital industry in the future.
The platform hosts on its website more than a million pages of Arabic medical content over the Internet and provides reliable medical information to those who need it, in addition to providing remote medical consultations around the clock, seven days a week, in all countries of the Arab world. Altibbi won the World Summit Award for Best Digital Health Content and the Schwab Award for Best Social Enterprise.
