We exited OnFleet with a higher than 4x return! Thank you @khalednaim for the exciting 4-year ride. We saw how the OnFleet team grew the company and overcame challenges and we wish them all the best in taking OnFleet to the next stage!
And we continue with the good news. Do you know we can now get our emotional states analyzed through our voice? Thank you, Halo by Amazon. This month we will focus on mental health startups. So… how’s your mind today?
Touch base: mental health startups
Covid19 gave us a cold shower of the many realities we neglected. Among them the simple fact that emotional and mental health is sometimes more important than the physical; or let’s say—the mental health is often described as the founding stone of the physical. If the mind is at peace, the body will follow.
Healthtech startups gained sky-high momentum thanks to Covid19 and a huge chunk of them are focused on mental well-being. But how big is the Middle East’s health tech footprint within the mental health field? Small but growing. Yes, there is the issue of stigma when it comes to mental illnesses, but the demand for online mental health services is increasing. Here are some examples of local startups within this field.
Shezlong (Egypt), the first online platform in the MENA where you can book anonymous online mental sessions, had a 31% increase in the number of therapy sessions bookings between February and March. They also recently secured a new investment to expand. Sympaticus (Lebanon) is an online psychotherapy and well-being platform with a prime focus on women.
Saudi Arabia’s Youpositive offers online coaching. There are also various platforms providing medical information and advice such WebTeb (Jordan) and Sohati (Lebanon). eTobb (Lebanon) is a medical Q&A platform while Altibbi (UAE) offers access to health answers from a network of doctors as well as live consults.
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TL;DR (too long; didn’t read)
Mental health is an essential field within healthtech that has grown on importance this year. We reviewed the region's local players providing online psychotherapy, life coaching and helpful information. And although there’s certainly room to grow, the region is moving in the right direction with more funding flowing towards online psychotherapy sessions.
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Family Postcard
No.1
Cartlow is trending as the no.1 shopping app on the Google Play Store.
Luxury sustainable fashion + beauty tycoon
The Luxury Closet has raised an investment from Huda Beauty Investments (HBI).
$10M
iKcon has secured $10M funding since inception, including a recently closed pre-series A round of $5 million led by ArzanVC, AlTouq Group, Nazer Group and others.
Mejuri in an >interview with Vogue revealed that their customers include Lizzo, Selena Gomez, Margot Robbie and Oprah Winfrey.
At the request of the merchants, Zid’s network now covers more than 170 cities.
Latest Jobs @ArzanVC Family
- Business Development Associate at FittiCoin (Egypt)
- Sr Front-end Engineer at POSRocket (Jordan)
- Sales Manager at TruKKer (Egypt)
- Product Manager at Crowd Analyzer (Egypt)
- Call Center Supervisor – Arabic speaking at iKcon (Dubai)
Take good care.
Hasan