Egyptian healthtech startup Yodawy has raised USD 16 million in the first close of its Series B round from regional and international investors.
Yodawy, founded in 2018 by Karim Khashaba, Yasser Abdel Gawad and Sherief El-Feky, offers a marketplace where patients can process prescriptions and place online orders for medicines. Yodawy also connects patients to medical labs and insurance companies. The platform has processed over four million prescriptions to date, and has partnered with 20 health insurance companies, 3,000 pharmacies and more than 300 businesses in Egypt since its Series A round 18 months ago.
International and regional investors
Investors included Delivery Hero Ventures, the VC arm of international food delivery platform Delivery Hero, Global Ventures, a UAE-based VC firm, AAIC Investment, a Japanese fund that provides growth capital and long-term support to fast-growing companies within the healthcare sector in Africa, and Dallah Albaraka, a diversified international conglomerate based out of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Existing investors Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP), C-Ventures, and P1 Ventures followed on in the latest round.
Yodawy’s e-prescription gateway
In the 18 months since its Series A, Yodawy has grown revenue by 400 per cent, and has partnered with 20 leading health insurance companies, 3,000 pharmacies, and more than 300 businesses in Egypt. The company has built a nationwide, tech-powered fulfillment infrastructure to reach patients across Egypt, and has launched a flagship e-prescription gateway, the first of its kind in Egypt. The e-prescription gateway allows physicians to go paperless with seven insurance companies and health management organizations participating in the program, generating over 2,000 e-prescriptions every day.
Karim Khashaba, co-founder and CEO of Yodawy, said of the raise, “Our focus on products that solve fundamental challenges in the sector has enabled the company to become the leading digital pharma powerhouse in Egypt and the partner of choice for insurance companies and payers at large. Yodawy will continue to invest heavily in building one of the most inclusive and sophisticated pharma value chains across the Middle East and Africa’s $100 billion pharma market.”
According to Brendon Blacker, Managing Partner at Delivery Hero Ventures, “We were drawn to Yodawy due to its founding team’s clear vision to revolutionize the pharmacy industry across the MENA region. With its innovative business model and rapidly growing customer base, Yodawy is ideally positioned to impact the lives of millions of people who have been underserved by traditional healthcare providers. As an incoming member of the Yodawy board, I look forward to supporting the team on their journey to build a world-class digital healthcare platform.”
Growth and international expansion
The new funds will be used to drive the growth of Yodawy’s Care Program for chronic patients, continue to automate its operations and to support its regional expansion strategy.
Healthtech startups continue to attract investment from regional and international investors. December saw CheckMe acquiring a majority stake in Egyptian firm DoctorsOnline.