Egyptian e-health startup SmartCare has raised US$1.2 million in funding from the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund (EAEF), which will help boost the company’s tech infrastructure, grow its team and expand its customer base.
Health management startup SmartCare was launched in 2010. It manages and administers customised corporate healthcare plans, while also providing discount medical cards for those not on corporate plans.
Amal Enan, chief of staff and director of policy planning, told Disrupt Africa the EAEF, which was launched in 2013 and invests in Egypt’s private sector to create jobs, improve quality of life and promote financial inclusion, had invested US$1.2 million in the company as it believed tech would make “huge strides” in improving the affordability and accessibility of healthcare services to Egyptian population.
“We have high confidence in the entrepreneur and the company’s capacity to implement this change in a high priority sector in Egypt,” he said. “The entrepreneur is a neurosurgeon, assistant professor at Cairo University, and has worked in the public sector, private sector and with civil society, where his accumulated experience allowed him to identify a gap in the healthcare insurance market and build SmartCare to address the need.”
EAEF’s investment in SmartCare will go towards further developing the company’s technology infrastructure, growing the team and expanding the customer base.
In an annual letter to shareholders, EAEF also confirmed it had made a US$10 million contribution to the new Algebra Ventures fund, as well as a US$10 million investment in Tanmiyah Ventures.
