As the well-funded start-up attained profitability this year, the Egyptian healthcare platform Vezeeta has raised new growth capital to fund acquisitions and expansion across the Middle East and Africa.
Existing investors Gulf Capital in Abu Dhabi and VNV Global in Sweden, formerly known as Vostok New Ventures, led the unannounced investment round. A source close to investors informed The National that Vezeeta has raised about $90 million to date.
Amir Barsoum, the founder and CEO of Vezeeta, stated that this assistance and investment will “enable us to begin on a new journey of growth, to scale our innovation to more people in the MEA area.”
According to a corporate official, the corporation is now in talks for acquisitions in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
For more than 10 million patients in 80 cities, Vezeeta offers doctor appointment booking, consultations, an e-pharmacy, and lab sample collection through its digital platform. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Nigeria, and Kenya are the current locations where it is active.
The business received its most recent investment in February 2020, a $40 million Series D round. Since its founding in 2012, it has raised at least $73 million, according to Mr. Barsoum.
Wamda reports that: “According to data source Statista, revenue in the global digital health industry is anticipated to expand at a compound annual growth rate of about 12% over the next five years, reaching a total market value of $256 billion by 2027.”
Gulf Capital and VNV Capital expressed optimism about Vezeeta’s prospects despite a difficult economic situation overall. Alvaro Abella, managing director of private equity at Gulf Capital, stated that” Veeeta is currently firmly established as the largest HealthTech platform in the Middle East and Africa. Egypt continues to be a significant market for us, and we just established our regional offices there in order to support more great development stories like Vezeeta.”
Since its founding in 2006, Gulf Capital has completed 37 investments, and it presently oversees more than $2.5 billion in assets. Gulf Capital is the principal investor in this second round of funding for Vezeeta.
The Nasdaq Stockholm-listed VNV Global has invested in Egyptian start-ups like the mass transit app Swvl, the speedy food delivery service Breadfast, and the hiring technology firm BasharSoft.
According to Bjorn von Sivers, investment manager at VNV Global, “With the rise of digitalization in every aspect of the MEA [Middle East and Africa] healthcare landscape, now is the time for Vezeeta to swiftly expand its innovative solutions at scale while proactively addressing the day-to-day challenges faced by millions.”
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Vezeeta, the phrase used in colloquial Egyptian for the payment for a doctor’s visit, began as a platform for booking solutions that let users look up doctors, read reviews from previous patients, and make appointment bookings. Since then, the business has introduced digitally run clinics and an online pharmacy, which, according to Mr. Barsoum, has allowed it to acquire five million new patients in less than two years.
Vezeeta gave more than 35,000 doctors a subscription option for digital healthcare solutions in its first important step toward a software-as-a-service approach. Additionally, 20 clinics in Egypt now use its technology solutions.
