Azur Innovation Fund, a public-private investment fund specialized in financing innovative startups in Morocco, continues its commitment to supporting young companies. After recently investing $1.1 million (11 million DH (Moroccan Dirhams) in PrestaFreedom, a home services platform focused on subscription-based cleaning and other services for individuals, the fund is now participating in the funding round of another promising startup called “DataPathology.” This demonstrates the fund’s ongoing interest in emerging enterprises with high-growth potential.
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DataPathology, founded in 2020 by Mohammed El Khannoussi and Hicham El Attar, is a Moroccan MedTech startup specialized in pathology. The company has reached a significant milestone, successfully raising 2 million DH from the Witamax fund managed by Soax Partners a year and a half ago. Now, they have accomplished a similar feat by concluding a fundraising round of $1 million (10 million DH). This achievement was made possible through a partnership with Azur Innovation Fund, a private-public seed fund supported by Tamwilcom (formerly Caisse Centrale de Garantie) and managed by Azur Partners, led by Tarik Haddi, a specialist in fund management and investment advisory. This accomplishment aligns with the Innov Invest program.
DataPathology’s mission is to address the lack of and delays in cancer diagnosis, particularly in medically underserved countries like those in Africa. The startup, co-founded by Hicham El Attar, a pathologist, and Mohammed El Khannoussi, an SI & Data consultant, aims to provide quick and secure pathological diagnosis to patients. Their innovative process involves conducting a biopsy and preparing a tissue sample at the patient’s examination site, digitizing it, and securely and anonymously transferring the digital file to the medical team for diagnosis through a web platform.
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DataPathology has already established partnerships with international players in digital health and has set up the first digital pathological diagnosis center in Morocco. They have also initiated discussions with African countries that show high potential for improving cancer diagnosis. As part of their future plans, the startup aspires to expand their network of laboratories in Morocco and Africa while strengthening the necessary infrastructure and logistics to increase the volume of data integrated and processed within their platform.
Azur Innovation Fund DataPathology Azur Innovation Fund DataPathology
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard