Already home with $666k funding from different investors, Cairo-headquartered Online Mental Health Platform – Shezlong – has raised a new investment to expand its services in the Middle East and North Africa region as well as Arabic speaking population globally, and to introduce new products that focus on mental health including Texting-Base Therapy and Corporate Wellness programs.
“Mental health is important at every stage of life and our mission in Shezlong is to help people manage their psychological and mental health at all times and make therapy accessible to everyone. We believe that with the new investment, Shezlong will be able to expand its services vertically and horizontally in the Middle East”, said Ahmed Abu ElHaz, Founder and CEO of Shezlong.
Here Is What You Need To Know
- Although the amount involved in this round of funding was not disclosed, Shezlong has up till this investment $666k in total funding.
- The new investment came from AAIC – a Singapore based investor who is focused on the healthcare sector in Africa, GCC based Mohamed El Khamissy – Chairman of MK Capital and an investor in a number of health & wellness and sports entities across the Middle East, Europe, and the US. Also participating is Khaled Ismail, Chairman of HIMangel, the leading angel fund in Egypt, which has focused on health-tech and is one of Shezlong’s early investors.
- In April 2018, Shezlong raised $350,000 in a bridge funding round. The investment came from 500 Startups, Endure Capital, HIMangel, and two individual investors Hadeer Shalaby, a Dubai-based Careem executive, and Shiva Datawani who is also a Dubai-based angel investor.
- The startup had previously raised $150,000 in 2016, in a seed round, from A15, Endure Capital, and Karim Hussein, Senior Vice President with WebMD who is currently a Managing Partner at Algbera Ventures.
- The startup was also accepted for the 2018 round of 500 Startups’ global accelerator and has three of its team members taking part in the program in Silicon Valley, California.
Why The Investors Invested
This investment in Shezlong both shows the continuing preference of healthcare startups in the face of the pandemic over other sectors in Africa as well as the perceived profitability of the business as a follow-on investment in this round was also made by previous angel investor in the startup.
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“HIMangel has invested early in Shezlong and decided to join this round too as we continue to believe in the mission of the company, serving people who need mental health support. Besides the peak in demand that is happing during these difficult times, we believe that the number of people who need mental health support is much higher than reported, and the convenience and quality of support offered by Shezlong will uncover these numbers”, said Khaled Ismail, Chairman of HIMangel.
“Your mind controls your health. Shezlong has great potential to help bring people back to good health through its platform with its privacy protection. We live in a stressful world with uncertainties such as COVID-19, which has led to increased psychological distress. We are excited to join Shezlong’s journey to address such mental health challenges”, said Shigeru Handa, Director of AAIC.
“I am excited to be part of this deal with Shezlong; a much needed online service amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought with it a lot of emotional pressure. I believe that having a balanced mind and body is essential for individuals to live a healthy lifestyle, and Shezlong along with its professional therapists offer the perfect platform for that”, said Mohamed El Khamissy, Chairman of MK Capital.
A Look At What Shezlong Does
- Founded in 2014, Shezlong allows patients to connect with licensed therapists through video visits online. It offers free assessments in order to assess the patients’ mental health and to detect any psychological problems.
- In addition, Shezlong uses cognitive behavioural therapy, which teaches individuals how to manage stress and anxiety and provides them with relaxation techniques such as deep breathing and positive self-talk that individuals currently need especially under the Covid-19 situation and the anxiety it created due to uncertainty and social distancing.
- The platform, which currently hosts 500+ consultants, has attracted ten thousand cases from several countries including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Germany, and the US. It also has about 100,000+ registered users who follow up frequently with their therapists.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer