Global leading insurers Orange Middle East and Africa and AXA Assurance Maroc have jointly acquired Moroccan e-health startup DabaDoc, and plan to help the platform scale across Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.
DabaDoc was founded in 2014 by Zineb Drissi-Kaitouni and Driss Drissi-Kaitouni, DabaDoc offers solutions for healthcare professionals to digitise access to healthcare in Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria.
The platform is now set for further expansion after seeing Orange and AXA – which invested in DabaDoc in 2018 – jointly take a majority stake in the company, with the transaction expected to close in the third quarter of 2021.
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Zineb Drissi-Kaitouni and Driss Drissi-Kaitouni, who founded DabaDoc, a platform that digitises access to healthcare in Africa, have found some relief after a long and winding road to entrepreneurship. This is due to the fact that Orange Middle East and Africa (Orange.com) and AXA CIMA entities led by AXA Assurance Maroc have announced the signing of a joint acquisition agreement for a majority stake in DabaDoc (www.DabaDoc.com).
“DabaDoc, a leading health-tech platform in Africa, is supporting the digital transformation of healthcare professions. Orange’s investment in DabaDoc and AXA’s renewed investment will strengthen DabaDoc’s growth ambitions through Orange and AXA’s presence in Africa and the Middle East. The pandemic has strengthened our belief that the digitalization of healthcare services is essential and inevitable,” Zineb Drissi-Kaitouni, co-founder and CEO of DabaDoc, said.
Zineb Drissi-Kaitouni is the CEO of DabaDoc
Here Is What You Need To Know
With this acquisition, Orange and AXA’s investment and network will accelerate DabaDoc’s growth and extend DabaDoc’s services to other regions, in particular Sub-Saharan Africa.
Orange is positioned as a prominent participant in e-health thanks to its cooperation with DabaDoc and its reliance on AXA’s globally known experience in healthcare.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021.
With this acquisition, AXA Assurance Maroc, which first invested in DabaDoc in 2018, is reinforcing its partnership with the company to accelerate the digitalization and integration of its customers’ healthcare journeys, easing policyholders’ interactions with healthcare professionals, notably through DabaDoc’s appointment booking and remote consultation infrastructure and neoHealth.
DabaDoc will benefit from AXA’s wide experience as a worldwide leader in health insurance, as well as Orange’s technology knowledge and payment systems, to allow the development of digital solutions that scale quickly and benefit patients and the broader African healthcare ecosystem.
What Attracted The Acquirers To DabaDoc?
“We are delighted to commit to this ambitious partnership with AXA and DabaDoc to serve the healthcare needs of everyone in Africa and the Middle East through digital technology. At Orange, we are convinced that the digital transformation is a source of progress and that e-health has huge potential. As a responsible operator on the continent, we want to contribute to this major social challenge, especially during a pandemic. The deployment of this type of solution in the countries where we are present will greatly facilitate populations’ access to healthcare services, which is essential to the continent’s development,” Alioune Ndiaye, CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa,said.
Meryem Chami, CEO of AXA Assurance Maroc and AXA CIMA, said: “AXA is a global leader in health insurance and related services. This is one of the Group’s strategic priorities as part of the Driving Progress 2023 plan. This ambition is even stronger as we are facing an unprecedented health crisis. Through this partnership, we therefore aim to enable patients to access a better healthcare journey in Morocco and to support DabaDoc through its development in the CIMA countries as well.”
A Look At What DabaDoc Does
DabaDoc, founded by a trained medical doctor Zineb Drissi-Kaitouni and Driss Drissi-Kaitouni in 2014, is a platform that digitalizes access to healthcare in Africa. On Dabadoc.com, internet users can find the doctor they are looking for, see their complete profiles (diplomas, training, photos of his office), make an appointment at their convenience, in a few clicks, 24 hours a day, 24/7 days a week.
In simple terms, to consult a doctor, a patient first goes to www.dabadoc.com and logs in. The patient will next select their favorite doctor and a time period that is ideal for the video consultation based on the doctor’s availability. Finally, the patient is asked to confirm the consultation by making a secure payment using the Interbank Monetary Center (CMI) network. As a result, the appointment is set. For each session, a unique and secure link is produced and provided to patients and physicians through SMS to begin their video. The service is available on Chrome for Android and Safari for iOS without the need to download a mobile app.
DabaDoc solutions are used by thousands of healthcare professionals in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria.
It has also won awards, includingfrom the Global Innovation for Science and Technology (GIST), an American organization that travels the world in search of the best startups. It was also included in the 2019 list of Technology Pioneers of the World Economic Forum (WEF). Zineb is herself an Endeavor entrepreneur.
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 write
