A Saudi-based healthcare startup has successfully raised $1.2 million in its first round of funding, it has been confirmed.

Co-founded last year, HealTec – described as a “dedicated B2B healthcare rehabilitation manufacturing facility” – reportedly facilitates the local production of medical prosthetics and other devices “to serve long-term care and rehabilitation patients.” It secured the funding from Nour Nouf Ventures (NNV) via Chrome Advisory.

“Over the past four years, we have been receiving inquiries from the healthcare industry in rehabilitation and patent development, and we’ve decided to give the healthcare industry our undivided attention,” said co-founder Hashim AlZain, a reverse engineering and prototyping specialist, who’s also the co-founder of DarTec Engineering. “HealTec intends to become the first company in the market to offer a unique service to the healthcare industry by bridging the gap between where the Kingdom [of Saudi Arabia] is currently at and where it aspires to be in terms of locally produced healthcare parts and devices.

“It wasn’t until a serendipitous meeting with the NNV team that I felt right about meeting the right partner to scale-up the company’s operation and extend its outreach.”

THE LARGER CONTEXT

According to a company statement, HealTec’s mission is to fill the gap of “manufacturing prosthetics and other medical devices locally,” adding that it is “serving the swift rehabilitation of patients ridding them of long waiting periods and prohibitive costs as a result of overseas manufacturing.”

As well as adding strategic partners, the funding will reportedly allow HealTec to scale, with a particular focus on research and development.

ON THE RECORD

“Investing in HealTec seemed a right fit for our impact investing strategy,” said NNV CEO, Reda Islam. “Not only will we help localise a sector that has been heavily relying on imports, but we will also help rehabilitation patients and amputees get better quality products faster.”

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