Nigerian startup buys out Qatar’s doctor booking platform
Helium Health, a Nigerian health IT startup, has acquired Meddy, a Qatar- and UAE-based doctor booking platform, for an unknown sum in rare Africa-PGCC deal.
The purchase, according to Helium Health CEO Adegoke
Olubusi, is unique in that it brings together two regions that rarely collide
in technology: Africa and the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC).
You don’t have a lot of people who can provide a suite like
ours in the PGCC. If they do, they’re doing it at a price point that’s so high
that they’ve already priced out the market in that sense,” Olubusi said
“But we can provide a full suite where you can do your
appointments booking, marketing solution, EMR, hospital management information
system, and have everything in a one-stop shop. It saves you a lot of stress in
the process from trying to consolidate many different systems.”
As part of the acquisition, Meddy’s CEO Haris Aghadi and COO
Abed Alkarim Khattab will join Helium’s leadership team. They’ll “play critical
roles in Helium’s GCC strategy and operations,” according to the company.
Helium Health’s purchase of Meddy is a significant expansion
move. Olubisi, Dimeji Sofowora, and Tito Ovia launched the company in 2016, and
it is well-known in Africa for its core electronic medical records (EMR) and
hospital administration solutions. However, it has now expanded its platform to
include HeliumPay, a billing and payments solution; HeliumCredit, a collateral-free
lending product; HeliumDoc, a patient-provider and revenue cycle management
tool; and data analytics services.
Meddy now serves over 150 private clients in the United Arab
Emirates and Qatar. With only $1.8 million in venture capital backing, the company
has facilitated over 200,000 medical appointments while generating over $130
million in billings for healthcare providers.
As the two companies merge, Olubusi believes the next step
would be to figure out how to better serve the GCC market with its entire EMR
solutions while also launching telemedicine and doctor scheduling services for
its African clientele.
