Mena HealthTech start-up Esaal raises $1.7m as it seeks to expand and boost its workforce

Start-up backed by venture capital firm A15 has secured $3m in early stage funding since its inception

Fadi Doss, chief executive of Esaal. Photo: Esaal

Healthcare technology start-up Esaal secured $1.7 million in funding as it aims to expand its services across the Middle East by investing in product development and boosting talent acquisition.

The start-up, backed by venture capital firm A15, has raised $3m in early stage funding since its inception in 2018, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

Esaal is currently active in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Palestine and Iraq and works with more than 350 consultants to provide online services related to mental health, physiotherapy, paediatrics and nutrition.

The company's platform allows users to connect with consultants and seek answers to their concerns.

“Esaal is not only in the business of consultations on physical health, but also addresses problems in other segments, including mental health and nutrition,” Fadi Doss, chief executive at Esaal, said.

“We are focusing on expanding our services so that people across the Mena region can access better holistic health care solutions.

“We benefited from the pandemic-induced lockdown, which opened opportunities in HealthTech. Between 2020 and 2021, our user base grew from 55 per cent and currently we stand at over one million.”

Demand for healthcare services has grown amid the pandemic and venture capital companies are seeking to tap into this by ramping up their investments in start-ups, especially those that provide diagnostics, testing and other support services, such as HealthTech.

The remote healthcare market in the Middle East and North Africa is projected to reach $1.8 billion in 2024, growing at a compound annual rate of 12.8 per cent from $989m in 2019, the 2020 Global Ventures Digital Health report showed.

The overall HealthTech start-up ecosystem in the Mena region is also booming and attracted investments of more than $80m in 2021, marking an annual increase of 29 per cent in funding, data platform Magnitt reported.

The market is worth more than $1.5bn, a 22-fold increase since 2016, Magnitt said.

“We have only scratched the surface in an untapped market and are actively working to secure further capital to fuel our continued growth,” Mr Doss said.

“Millions of people across an enormous region would benefit from our fresh approach to holistic health and we are thrilled to be able to keep growing and connecting more health professionals with patients in underserved markets.”

Apart from providing services to individual people, Esaal also offers staff wellness programmes for businesses. It currently serves more than 15,000 employees in a range of industries through partnering with 10 mid-large-sized companies.

It is also partnering with several NGOs to support wellness-related initiatives.