Adio partners with Innovaccer to improve healthcare services in Middle East

Health cloud company to get incentives to set up regional headquarters and R&D hub in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi Investment Office's partnership with Innovaccer will boost health care accessibility and affordability in the region. Victor Besa / The National

Abu Dhabi Investment Office has collaborated with Innovaccer, a health cloud company, to improve the accessibility, affordability and quality of health care in the UAE and across the Middle East.

Under the deal, Adio, the government body responsible for attracting investment, will provide Innovaccer with financial and non-financial incentives to help it establish its regional headquarters and a research and development hub in Abu Dhabi.

The incentives will be part of Adio’s Dh2 billion ($545 million) Innovation Programme.

“Health care and biopharma are two key sectors we want to focus on as part of developing priority sectors for Abu Dhabi. This is our first healthcare deal and one of the many in the pipeline we are looking to deliver on,” Abdulla AlShamsi, acting director general of Adio, told The National.

“Innovaccer is a big name in healthcare cloud data activation that provides connectivity across multiple healthcare services. Their knowledge and database have the potential to boost the local talent ecosystem while improving the quality and affordability of health care in the region.”

By setting up in Abu Dhabi, Innovaccer will accelerate the pace of healthcare innovation in the UAE and the region wit its health cloud, data activation platform, healthcare technology solutions and expertise to local communities, Mr AlShamsi said.

As part of the deal, Innovaccer will partner with local universities in Abu Dhabi on conferences, presentations and research.

“Making their physical presence in Abu Dhabi will boost the emirate’s talent ecosystem and facilitate knowledge transfer,” Mr AlShamsi said.

Founded in 2014, Innovaccer, a San Francisco-based healthcare technology company, has built a health cloud software platform used by healthcare organisations.

“In this deal, we are talking about boots on the ground. With Innovaccer basing more than 80 high-skilled employees in Abu Dhabi, we see greater opportunities for collaboration with universities and local businesses resulting in job creation,” Mr AlShamsi said.

Abu Dhabi’s association with Innovaccer began with a 2019 investment by Mubadala Capital.

Last year, Mubadala Capital led Innovaccer's $150m, series E funding round that had participation from existing investors B Capital Group, Microsoft’s M12 fund, OMERS Growth Equity, Dragoneer, Steadview Capital, Tiger Global Management and other new investors.

“Since we first invested in Innovaccer in 2019, we have seen widespread adoption of their solutions by healthcare institutions across the US, and we are delighted to see them now expanding their presence in the Middle East by establishing a regional headquarters in Abu Dhabi,” said Ibrahim Ajami, head of ventures and growth at Mubadala.

The latest funding round brings the total sum raised by Innovaccer to more than $375m.

The company will invest the newly raised funds in R&D and recruitment, as it rapidly scales its customer experience, product and engineering talent.

“We're thrilled to collaborate with Adio to bring our technology and talent to Abu Dhabi, which is a driving force for innovation in the region,” said Sandeep Gupta, co-founder and chief operating officer at Innovaccer.

Innovaccer has also received a wide-ranging support from the Abu Dhabi ecosystem.

The company is building local relations in Abu Dhabi to establish the emirate as its first commercial market in the Middle East and a platform for regional growth.

The Innovaccer Health Cloud unifies patient data across systems.

Abu Dhabi's Department of Health sees great value in collaboration across key sectors to further improve the quality of health care in the emirate, said Asma Al Mannaei, executive director of the Research and Innovation Centre at the Department of Health — Abu Dhabi.

“More than ever today, we realise the importance of data as it allows organisations to further develop value-based care, manage populations' health and generate real-world evidence,” she said.