Alma Health looking to expand to Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Egypt

Abu Dhabi-based Alma Health is on a mission to transform chronic care with the help of technology.

Founded by Khaldoon Bushnaq and Tariq Seksek in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the company's digital health platform provides medical consultations to people living with conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and asthma via its mobile application.

To make this possible, Alma Health has a panel of licensed, in-house general practitioners and offers lab tests that can be done in the comfort of the home.

"Contrary to a typical telemedicine company, where a physician doesn't necessarily work for the company, our business model is completely different," said Mr Bushnaq. "At Alma Health, those physicians are employed by Alma Health. This helps us provide our members with a high quality, specialised and customised care plan."

It was during the pandemic when the company decided to be prepared for the next pandemic or endemic.

"The two critical trends we have seen and we strongly capitalised on to start a digital health care business are: the regulators' agility to licence digital health care providers, physicians' rapid adoption of digital health and patients' rising expectations from their health care providers," said Mr Bushnaq.

Since its inception, Alma Health has recorded double-digit growth in the number of users, with tens of thousands of customers in Abu Dhabi alone. The company completed its licensing formalities this year in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, as well as integration with major insurance providers. Mr Bushnaq expects to replicate the success the company has seen in Abu Dhabi in Dubai and Saudi Arabian markets as well.

Later on, it even plans to expand to Egypt.

"We have ambitious plans to scale our user base from the tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands within the next 12 months by doubling down on our presence in the UAE and Saudi Arabia," Mr Bushnaq added.

So far, the company has managed to raise more than $15 million from regional and global investors, including e & capital, Knuru capital, The Oryx Fund, Khwarizmi Ventures and Global Founders Capital.

Alma Health is also completing technical integrations with AI-powered consumer medical devices for at-home monitoring and plans to continue to maintain its core focus on chronic care.

Ultimately, its goal is to grow its capabilities to transform the lives of at least 10 million people living with chronic conditions in the UAE and Saudi Arabia with an unparalleled digital care experience.