According to a post on X (formerly Twitter) by Techpoint Africa, Egyptian Healthcare startup, Almouneer, has raised $3.6 million to expand to other countries including Nigeria.
Global Ventures led the seed round with participation from Wrightwood Investments, Proparco and Digital Africa through the Bridge funds and other international funds.
Almouneer aims to transform healthcare for people living with chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes.
The Lancet reports that there is a rising burden of non-communicable diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Currently, non-communicable diseases also known as NCDs are the leading cause of death in the world killing 41 million annually (70% of deaths).
In Nigeria, nearly 30% of all deaths are due to NCDs. The risk of premature death from NCDs among Nigeria’s 30-69-year-olds is 22%.
Among these NCDs, the top four killers are cardiovascular diseases like hypertension, cancers, respiratory diseases and diabetes.
By 2030, NCDs are set to overtake communicable, maternal, neonatal and nutritional diseases combined as the leading cause of mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The startup launched as a tech-enabled ophthalmology clinic in 2017 before it began treating patients with chronic conditions.
Then it transitioned from online clinics to providing operational support to doctors and other healthcare providers.
It released its patient-focused app called DRU. The paid app allows patients to upload their medical records, and schedule tele-consultations, which enable them to speak with medical professionals over the phone or through chat.
Almouneer generates revenue from these customized patient plans and subscriptions.
DRU is the first patient-centric, digitally enabled lifestyle and diabetes management platform in the Middle East and Africa.
In Q1 2024, Almouneer plans to expand into Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kenya. According to cofounder, Noha Khater, Almouneer wants to improve and broaden its range of services and expand its product. It will also use some of the funds to support the website’s development and expansion for Almouneer products including the DRU app. Khater also claims that the previous year, Almouneer doubled its business volumes and revenue figures.