• Kuwait-based healthtech Sihaty has raised$1.3 million in a pre-Series A round from Rasameel Investments, The Taken Seat Fund, Doha Tech Angels, as well as several regional angel programmes. 

• Founded in 2019 by Nadeem Alduaij, Sihaty connects patients in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia with doctors through an app, where doctors can view and save a patient’s medical records and history, and prescribe the medicines, which are delivered to patients in 24 hours. 

• This latest funding round will help Sihaty add new features to its app, create a service for mental health care and expand its services across the GCC region.

• “For too long, our nations have focused on a sick care model. This is expensive, fragmented, low-yield, and it completely ignores the healthy majority. As a result, we have not paid enough attention to primary care and prevention, the priority interventions for health systems,” said Alduaij.

Press release:

Sihaty, a Kuwait-based digital health company, announces that it has closed over $1.3 million in a pre-Series A round. The deal includes participation from Rasameel Investments, Doha Tech Angels, and several prominent regional angels, as well as follow-on participation from The Taken Seat Fund.

Founded in 2019 by The Taken Seat, a regional venture builder, Sihaty launched its advanced telehealth platform in 2020 aiming to build a comprehensive virtual primary healthcare system allowing users to seamlessly connect to its network of select doctors, pharmacies, laboratories, and imaging centres. The startup currently serves Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and, in less than a year, has amassed over 200k app downloads. Sihaty has performed tens of thousands of teleconsultation minutes to date.

Sihaty’s unique vision goes beyond telehealth to target the gap in quality primary care services and care coordination critical to good health. “For too long, our nations have focused on a sick care model. This is expensive, fragmented, low-yield, and it completely ignores the healthy majority. As a result, we have not paid enough attention to primary care and prevention, the priority interventions for health systems,” says Dr. Nadeem Alduaij, co-founder and CEO of Sihaty. He adds, “Despite our obsession with building bigger and better hospitals, our region holds the alarming record of having the fastest growing chronic disease mortality rate in the world. A paradigm shift is long overdue, and we already know what the solutions are. Technology has the power to scale and enhance their impact.”

Sihaty’s technology platform meets the rigorous HIPAA data security standards and offers a unique virtual urgent care service that allows users to be seen by a board-certified family or emergency doctor within minutes. Moreover, the team is betting on its clinical workflow and end-to-end solution to maximise relevance and convenience. When prescribed, medications and laboratory tests are delivered to your doorstep. “People need to be reassured. They need to know that they’re entering a system of care that has their best interest in mind. We offer the top healthcare professionals who practice high quality, evidence-based, and ethical medicine,” added Nadeem.

Marwan Mahmoud, the co-founder at DTA, said, “Doha Tech Angels is excited to be part of Sihaty as an investor. We see great potential in Sihaty and in the vision of the founders. As an angel investment group from Qatar, we look for meaningful investment opportunities in health tech that address important regional challenges.”

Sihaty will use the funding to roll out its unique business strategy of assigning a family doctor to all incoming users and allowing this virtual-first health system to better manage chronic and stigmatised conditions. Going forward, Sihaty plans to focus on many of these disorders, especially mental health, that remain largely underestimated due to the associated stigma but have a major impact on our health, well-being, and productivity. From a geographic perspective, the team targets an expansion of its services across the entire Gulf region.

Dakhil Al Dakhil, EVP for Alternative Investments at Rasameel Investments, said, “Our focus at Rasameel is to identify promising opportunities in transformative sectors. The key depends first and foremost on the team and the market potential of the venture. The Taken Seat founders are making a reputation for themselves as serial entrepreneurs. They manage to leverage their expertise and put together a world-class team capable of exceeding expectations in their go-to-market strategy. And that is precisely what we are experiencing them doing with Sihaty.”