Middle East’s largest AI-based digital health platform raises $44 million in Series B funding

The round brings together a number of strategic and financial investors. The heavily oversubscribed round was led by Foundation Holdings, Hikma Ventures, and existing investors Global Ventures and DASH Ventures. Investment bank Awad Capital was the exclusive advisor to Altibbi for the transaction.

Raising more than $50 million in funds since its founding in 2011, Altibbi’s diverse shareholder base also includes high-profile investors such as Endeavor Catalyst, Middle East Venture Partners, and Al Rashed, among others.

The senior advisor at Foundation Holdings, Jason Kothari, who is an experienced business leader, will join the Altibbi Board on behalf of Foundation Holdings.

The global digital health market size exceeded $142 billion in 2020 and is estimated to grow at more than 17 percent annually until 2027.

The remote healthcare market in the Middle East and North Africa is projected to reach approximately $2 billion in 2024. Chronic conditions are an increasing burden to affordability of healthcare across the globe.

Altibbi’s digital health offerings

Altibbi is the largest AI-based digital health provider in the Arab world, hosting over two million pages of content, and six published peer reviewed scientific papers in 2021.

It has conducted 4.5 million telehealth consultations to date, has 20 million unique visitors a month to its platform, and offers its 24/7 telehealth services across seven regional countries – with more than 1,500 active certified doctors on the platform.

Altibbi’s AI engine, created by their leading team of data scientists, engineers, and clinicians, also provides a unique capability for a comprehensive patient solution.

The new funds will be used to expand the platform’s offering into online pharmacy and diagnostics collection to establish the regions first end-to-end fully integrated primary care offering, providing high quality, affordable, accessible, and value-based healthcare in accordance with Saudi Vision 2030 and Egypt’s Ministry of Health and Population.

The company will also increase its investments in machine learning to further support doctors in providing more precise diagnostics, referrals, and prescriptions.

The founder and CEO of Altibbi, Jalil Allabadi, said: “We are thrilled to complete this significant funding round, with the endorsement of leading financial and strategic investors with strong healthcare and technology expertise. We are grateful to our new and existing investors, our partners and the brilliant Altibbi family and team for allowing us to forge ahead with our mission.

“Altibbi is playing a critical role in organising digital healthcare services, improving quality and convenience for patients, and reducing costs of insurers and governments, even as it expands access across the region. Building an end-to-end platform and strengthening our geographic presence have always been strategic priorities.”

The CEO of Foundation Holdings, Abhishek Sharma, said: “Digital Healthcare is witnessing unprecedented growth and we are set to sail into the golden age of healthcare and healthcare technology. Altibbi has already achieved a leadership position in the digital healthcare industry while demonstrating superior unit economics.

“Our objective is to support Altibbi to reach a superior position where its quality, exponential growth and trusted brand will enable them to be the first publicly listed digital health unicorn IPO in the GCC.”

The managing director of Hikma Ventures, Lana Ghanem, said: “Altibbi is re-engineering healthcare, shifting the focus from sick care to preventative healthcare so that patients experience better health, and reduced costs.

“We fully believe and support their highly scalable, digital-first platform combined with their quality, virtual clinical operations to provide integrated, personalised healthcare. An integrated digital platform is no longer a nice to have in healthcare but is an essential tool to deliver a more efficient model of care.”

According to a GCC Healthcare Industry Report by Alpen Capital, the current healthcare expenditure in the GCC is projected to reach $104.6 billion in 2022.

The healthcare sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of around 7 percent during 2019-2024.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 aims to drive the digital transformation of health systems and inspire new collaborations between public and private sectors for improved clinical and financial outcomes.