Saudi-Based Sihatech Raises $1.3m Series A Round

Riyadh based Saudi Internet Health Application Technology Company, www.Sihatech.com, announced the closing of its first institutional investment round, a total of five million Saudi Arabia Riyals led by Saudi Aramco Entrepreneurship Ventures (“WA’ED Ventures”) as well as returning investor, Waseel Application Service Provider.

Back in 2014, Sihatech had secured a 500,000 Saudi Arabia Riyals SAFE round with Waseel ASP for services rendered which represents a 10X jump in the amount of funds raised.

Sihatech plans to use the funds to continue to improve its offering for the Saudi healthcare sector, expand its team, hire more local developers and expand its core technology products to support the regional healthcare sector and become a driving force of the healthcare component of the Saudi Vision 2030 strategic objectives.

Commenting on the occasion, Sihatech CEO, Mr. Ahmed Salman Al Bader said:

Verse 5:32 of the Holy Qura’an states that: “And whoever saveth one (life) – it is as if he hath saveth mankind entirely”

Sihatech is uniquely positioned within the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem. Our ultimate goal is to save lives by becoming the backbone of the health IT sector in the Middle East and North Africa as well as coming up with creative payment gateway solutions that limit the opacity of the current medical procedure pricing. We have started with Saudi Arabia and together with our new and existing partners, our aim is to lead the transformation of the regional health industry into an accountable and transparent sector where the highest quality of care is the unified result. We believe that we can certainly leap frog the west and contribute locally to the lofty goal set by our national vision of achieving a 70% penetration of a unified medical record in Saudi Arabia by 2020. Keep in mind that the USA currently has anywhere from 60 to 66% digital meaningful use penetration based on the estimates. Nevertheless, we will try our utmost to make our nation a shining beacon of digital health on the global scene, especially since Saudi Arabia is uniquely positioned to deal with what I call the ‘three 70%.’ Over 70% smart phone penetration (second only to South Korea), 70% youth population (under the age of 35) and a 70% rate of obesity and overweightness across the entire population.

I am proud that Sihatech today is not only one of the fastest growing startups in Saudi Arabia but also one of the most highly valued companies that is actively working towards improving that most noble of sectors - Healthcare. In addition to our focus on digital health, Sihatech is also one of the region’s first FinTech platforms, sicne through our Jamalek product, we are offering financing on any medical procedure costing between 40,000 to 150,000 Saudi Riyals in a Shariah compliant murahaba format. At Sihatech we are empowering patients and putting care back into Healthcare.

Commenting further, Mr. Khalil A. Al-Shafei, CEO and Managing Director, Saudi Aramco Entrepreneurship Venture Company “WA’ED” stated:

“Waed invests in promising companies such as Sihatech. The founders have the skills and the talent to excute the company plan and grow Sihatech to a regional leadear, capable of responding to the ever changing needs and modernization of health system in Saudi Arabia”.

Today with over 2000 doctors representing 30 different hospitals and medical centers across the nation, we recognize Sihatech as the largest network of private healthcare providers in the Kingdom and actually provides detailed information on more doctors on its platform than the largest top four Riyadh hospitals combined.

Healthcare Funding