Dr. Saira Siddique has become the first solo female founding father of a Pakistani startup to own raised $1.8 million in pre-seed funding for the health school venture, medIQ.
For perspective, girls-led startups in Pakistan have solely raised three % of total funding for the startup scheme over the last 5 years then this fundraiser could be a trailblazing occasion for Pakistani women founders to focus on what they will achieve.
“We are excited to finish this strategic funding round, that could be an endorsement of our holistic tending model by leading investors with robust healthcare and technology expertise,” same Dr. Saira Siddique, Founder and chief operating officer of medIQ. “medIQ is enjoying a important role in redefining digital healthcare services by up quality and convenience for patients, reducing prices for patients, healthcare suppliers and insurers, with a robust capability to become a regional player. AN integrated digital platform is a current must-have during a healthcare system to deliver an economical model of care at scale. media has incontestable a chronicle with over 300 thousand patients served in eighteen months only,” she added.
COVID-19 pandemic was a catalyst for the startup landscape in Pakistan, that saw investments rise from $65 million in 2020 to $350m across eighty three deals in 2021. tho’ the market potential is significant, the tending sector has but been insulant in risk capital financing, which is predicted to alter with this sector currently drawing a lot of interest from investors.
Dr. Saira added, “Our health care system is fragmented and hospitals are burdened as patients ought to attend a hospital even for minor ailments. AN inefficient, brick-and-mortar, hospital-centered approach makes timely, affordable, and holistic tending impossible. Hospitals have a mean consultation waiting time of ninety minutes and solely 2.5 minutes is spent on the particular consultation itself. 90 % of patients may be simply treated at the purpose of would like while not a visit to a hospital. medIQ is reversing this model of hospital-centered supply by delivery healthcare to the patients at their point of need employing a patient-centered approach”.
The spherical brings along variety of strategic investors crystal rectifier by USA-based Amana Capital and Near East & Islamic Republic of Pakistan centered – Cordoba Ventures (CorVCF). The US-based early-stage capitalist angel cluster, TAJDEED, a syndicate of outstanding physicians from APPNA (All Pakistani Physicians of North yankee descent Association), House of Habib, and leading health school angel investors from Silicon Valley conjointly participated within the round. it’s the primary direct investment for each NRD Capital and angel Group during a Pakistani startup.
medIQ is Pakistan’s first integrated B2B virtual care platform providing everything an organization or insurance company must deliver virtual care to its members. It also serves both urban and rural individual customers by directly connecting them to health service providers.
The B2B virtual care answer supercharged by medIQ provides a customizable plug-and-play schoolnology stack, a comprehensive network of on-line pharmacies, and online laboratory services backed by GPs and specialists from thirty two specialties, nursing staff, and dedicated home care teams. this can be brought along through a proprietary electronic anamnesis system to record patient information during a single profile, promoting data sharing and interoperability, thereby up quality and reducing the price of care.
With the funds raised, medIQ plans to any invest in its tech infrastructure to produce holistic virtual care to corporations and patients, supported the development of AI and Machine Learning tools victimisation high-quality patient data. the corporate plans to create out its services across twenty cities in Islamic Republic of Pakistan and expand regionally.
