The Dubai-based online video medical consultation startup Health at Hand has raised over US$4 million in two funding rounds. The company will use the fresh capital injection to integrate e-prescriptions and a subscription-based model of insurers and businesses. Additionally, it will also start offering home drug delivery service.
The innovative platform is the first of its kind in the GCC region. Dr. Pat Basu, one of the most experienced telehealth professionals in the world joined its Board of Directors. In addition to that, the engineering team behind it worked with Careem and is also well-versatile in the startup world. Furthermore, the ambitious healthcare startup has already attracted the attention of AstroLabs, the leading startup learning academy in MENA and a Google partner.
According to Charlie Barlow, its founder, and CEO, the digital healthcare sector in the GCC is relatively young, and although there are many competitors in the field, there is still room for improvement. His goal is to put the patient in the center and to democratize primary healthcare. In Barlow’s view, the telehealth industry will disrupt the primary healthcare sector in the GCC the same way it did it in the US. ”There is no doubt that video consultation and the more comprehensive telehealth industry are vital to the future of primary health care,” Charlie said.
Simon Charlton, one of the leading investors in Health at Hand stated that telehealth provided equal benefits to all the parties involved – patients, businesses, and insurers. In his words, Health in Hand had the potential to disrupt the local healthcare industry.
According to Statista, the revenues from the mobile health industry in the Middle East and Africa will reach US$ 2.5 billion, compared to US$ 470 million in 2015. It is the fastest growing on-demand business worldwide, after transportation.