UAE-based medical search portal, Okadoc, has closed $10 million Series A round of funding.

This is the largest Series A funding secured by a healthtech firm in MENA, Okadoc, that is billed as the region's instant doctor booking platform, claimed at the STEP Conference, a tech festival for emerging markets in Dubai.

Okadoc will use the funding to launch telemedicine services in the UAE, enabling doctors to offer remote virtual consultations to their patients.

"We are fixing the broken patient experience that exists today, while at the same time improving operational efficiency for payors and providers,” said Fodhil Benturquia, Founder & CEO of Okadoc.  

Institutional and private investors participated in the Series A funding round, including Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) and Ithmar Capital Partners, the firm revealed.

The latest round of funding follows a $2.3 million seed round in 2018.

Within one year of launching the instant booking, Okadoc achieved 10 percent market penetration in the UAE - with an additional 15 percent signed up.

"This funding round and our continued rapid growth will help us achieve our goal of hitting 30 percent market penetration in the UAE by the end of 2021," Benturquia told Zawya.  

Okadoc has tied up with Dubai Healthcare City and on-boarded providers such as Medcare, Aster Hospitals and Emirates Healthcare Group, among others to list their services.  

It is a cloud-based platform that helps doctors, clinics, and hospitals reduce 'no-shows', optimize their bookings, reduce administrative costs, increase operational efficiency and attract and engage new patients. The service is free for patients.

The company plans to expand operations into Saudi Arabia and enter more Gulf countries next year.

“We wanted to continue this great momentum, expand in other markets and introduce new functions, so we felt that the time is right to raise more capital to enable us to do so,” Benturquia added.

The firm has on-boarded over 1,000 bookable doctors from healthcare facilities across the UAE.

(Reporting by Mily Chakrabarty; Editing by Seban Scaria)

(mily.chakrabarty@refinitiv.com)           

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