The Jordanian telehealth startup Altibbi has raised US$6.5 million from DASH Ventures and Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP) in a third-round seed funding. In 2014, the company secured US$ 500,000 in the first round, and a year later, it received US$ 2 million. In total, the startup managed to attract US$ 8.5 million.
Established in 2010 by Jalil Allabadi and Ayman Sharaiha, the healthcare platform now has more than 1.5 million pages of content in Arabic. In addition to that, its database features more than 12,000 registered doctors, giving online consultations. The app is active in 10 countries in the region. It also has branches in Amman, Dubai, and Gaza.
DASH Ventures and MEVP are returning investors in the company. Walid Mansour, Partner and Chief Investment Officer at MEVP, commented that the remarkable growth the startup achieved during the past year was the main reason to stay with it.
Omar J. Sati, Managing Director of DASH Ventures, added that Altibbi stood out from the competitors because of its rich database of medical professionals and its statistics tool for tracking web visitors. According to Sati, the platform’s founder Jalil has worked hard to develop the product and make it popular on the market. His determination also played a key role in the investors’ decision to stay with the company:
Business models are a dime-a-dozen, but in particular, it was the execution and the team behind that motivated the investment.
The founder of Altibbi focused on top investors since day 1. He aimed to find investors with stamina who were interested in innovation and did not need results immediately. Allabadi said it was important for him not to focus on growth but to try to overarch value for end-users by working on the small details. The entrepreneur confirmed he would use the capital to add up more specialized content in Arabic, to develop a free Q&A sessions answered by verified practitioners. Allabadi would also add some more features to make the app a hub for family health. He is also planning to expand his B2B activities in Cairo and Riyadh.