Women-led Pakistani telehealth startup bags $3M Series A funding

Pakistani telemedicine startup Sehat Kahani has gained $2.7 million in a Series A funding round led by the health tech fund Amaanah Circle from Singapore. 

Epic Angels, Cross Fund, USAID Investment Promotion Activity,  Augmentor, Impact Investment Exchange and the Elahi Group of Companies also participated in the funding round. 

WHAT IT DOES

Founded in 2017 by two women doctors, Dr Sara Saeed Khurram and Dr Iffat Zafar Aga, the startup promises to connect patients with its global network of 7,500 doctors “within 60 seconds.” It also offers on-demand at-home or on-site laboratory services and online medicine delivery. Catering to both civilian and corporate clients, its mobile application is now being used by patients in over 310 cities and towns in Pakistan, more than 800 corporations, and 62 e-health clinics. 

WHAT IT’S FOR

Sehat Kahani will use its fresh funds to leverage predictive AI for telehealth and offer precision medicine. “This funding infusion marks a pivotal moment for Sehat Kahani. It will enable us to develop advanced features, including decision support systems, precision medicine tools, and predictive AI models to help our patients live fully by knowing their disease better,” Dr Khurram said in a statement.

MARKET SNAPSHOT

There has not been much funding raised for Pakistani startups in digital health recently. The previously reported investing event was in 2021 when Ailaaj, a vertically integrated primary healthcare platform that also offers telemedicine, bagged $1.6 million in seed funding. Marham, which claims to be the first telehealth startup in the country, also scored $1 million in seed funding in the same year.