While working for global consultancy Accenture in Riyadh a few years back, Prince Mohammed bin Abdulrahman, noticed a gap in the healthcare sector, especially when it comes to managing the appointment of patients by medical centres.
Patients frequently forget their appointments or become preoccupied with other matters, neglecting to inform their medical provider. This poses significant challenges for clinics and other healthcare providers in finding a replacement for the missed appointment, ultimately resulting in financial losses for the companies, he says.
He also noticed a surge in companies entering the food delivery and other sectors, but the healthcare industry lacked innovation to support small medical centres in optimising their operations with cutting-edge technology. This realisation prompted him to collaborate with friends to create a technology platform.
Together, they embarked on developing a new platform, with one friend suggesting a mobile app for appointment bookings. However, they ultimately decided on a cloud-based platform for its superior efficiency and effectiveness.
It was this idea to connect patients and clinics through a cloud-based platform and assist medical centres in efficiently managing their operations without incurring high costs, which led him to found Clinicy in 2017, along with co-founders Abdullah bin Sulaiman Alobaid and Saud bin Sulaiman Alobaid.
“The healthcare industry in Saudi Arabia witnesses a staggering loss of 3 billion Saudi riyals ($800 million) per annum because of administrative problems, inefficient systems and patients missing their appointments,” says Prince Mohammed, who is also chief executive of the company.
“By using the company’s proprietary technology, medical centres and institutions can reduce the ‘no-show’ rate among patients by an average of 55 per cent. We’ve even seen some clinics experience an 85 per cent decline in ‘no-shows'.”
Saudi Arabia, the Arab world’s largest economy, is prioritising the development of its healthcare sector as part of its Vision 2030 programme.
“One of the main core pillars of health care in Vision 2030 is getting people more involved in health care, digitising health care, making the reach of people to health care much simpler. We are playing a role in building that,” says Prince Mohammed, who has master's degree in business innovation.
So far, Clinicy has served one million patients and aims to reach 1.5 million by the end of 2024, he says.
“From the moment, the appointment is booked until the patient attends … all the operations in the middle are managed by us and it's automated so we decrease or eliminate the human factor in it.”
“With continuous reminders, with efficient communication, with simple communication so that patients won't be annoyed as well, we get to reduce that whole no-show rate.”
There are also some tools available for the medical institutions to make the booking easier and simpler for better management of their operations, Prince Mohammed adds.
"After we did some R&D, going back and forth with medical institutions to learn more to know how to build, we believed that we saw that opportunity was to build a cloud-based software for them to manage their operations."
"The whole concept ... wasn't developed before. Before, you had two types [of] software for medical institutions ... very sophisticated and expensive for hospitals or the versions that were offline."
Clinicy operates on a subscription-based model and charges medical centres or clinics that avail of its services on a monthly or yearly basis.
"We are profitable based on product but company as a whole, the plan is to break even in mid-2025," Prince Mohammed says.
Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in the healthcare sector as it focuses on diversifying its economy away from oil. Private companies are also investing in the sector amid new opportunities.
The kingdom is using artificial intelligence and other latest technology as it focuses on providing better healthcare services to its people.
In 2021, the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority joined forces with the Dutch health technology company Royal Philips to advance its AI healthcare capabilities.
The public-private partnership will create an AI ecosystem to make the kingdom one of the world’s most technologically advanced countries, SDAIA said at the time.
The projected revenue in the digital health market for Saudi Arabia is expected to reach $1 billion in 2024 and $1.3 billion by 2028 from $909 million in 2023, according to a recent report by Statista.
Digital health market is witnessing a surge in investments in the kingdom along with partnerships between technology companies and healthcare providers. This trend is leading to the development of innovative solutions tailored to the local healthcare landscape, Statista said.
Additionally, the government's focus on digitising the healthcare sector through initiatives like the Saudi Vision 2030 is creating a conducive environment for the adoption of digital health technologies.
Going forward, Prince Mohammed is optimistic about the company's growth prospects in light of new opportunities.
There is a $2 billion opportunity to enhance the connection between patients and medical providers through the use of technology, he says, adding that the company has already made significant progress in this market and expects to see substantial growth in adoption rates in the coming years.
“Fundamentally, we want every patient across Saudi Arabia to have the very best access to health care … we have to ensure that medical clinics and institutions have easy-to-use digital solutions to serve them quickly and efficiently.”
Regarding the competition in the market among various HealthTech companies, he describes it as diversified.
"It's not the same type of competition, where you have two companies doing the exact same thing and competing for marketplace, but you have different types of companies operating.... and coexist."
Earlier this year, the company raised $5 million with the participation of investors including Middle East Venture Partners, Gate Capital, Kafou Group and Fadeed Investment, bringing the total amount raised since inception to more than $10 million.
The company is seeking additional funding to support its expansion efforts throughout the kingdom. Prince Mohammed, however, did not disclose the specific amount the company intends to raise in the future.
Currently, the company operates in Riyadh, Al Khobar and Makkah, with plans to extend its services to additional cities in the kingdom.
It has 25 employees currently and aims to boost the number by the end of the year, amid expansion plans.
Q&A with Prince Mohammed bin Abdulrahman, co-founder and chief executive of Clinicy
What start-up do you admire the most?
Jahez (food delivery). They are pioneers in the start-up industry in Saudi. They were the first company to be completely founded here and then move on to IPO. For me, they stand alone in what they have achieved.
Who is your role model?
I have many role models in life and business, so it’s hard to give just one. I admire some of the qualities of Warren Buffett. He invests his time, energy and resources into knowing more than anyone else about a particular business or industry and he is then able to use that knowledge to great effect.
What new skills have you learnt since launching the company?
Everything changes and whatever is considered extremely important today is very normal tomorrow. To reach 100, you need to focus 100 per cent on zero to one. Put all your efforts into the next step, give it everything. Don’t think about what happens in a year or two, before you fully accomplish what you’re doing now. Focus is the key thing in start-ups; the more you focus, the better results you create, the better problems you solve and the better you move forward.
Where do you want to be in five years?
We wish to be the tool, with which the entire healthcare system operates.
What is your advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?
To be honest, I’m not sure I’m fit enough to give advice. Yes, we’re a start-up, yes we’ve done good and hopefully we do better. Don’t lose focus, whatever you plan to do, give it your time and focus fully.
