Islamabad-based healthtech startup medIQ has raised a $1.8m pre-seed funding round by Amaana Capital and Cordoba Ventures. Seraph Group, House of Habib, and Tajdeed, a syndicate of prominent Pakistani doctors in the United States, also participated in the deal.
The startup was founded in 2020 by Dr Saira Siddique, a doctor who also holds a Ph.D. in Health Economics. Since the app’s launch in April 2020, it has amassed around 56,000 downloads as per Appfigures estimates. It was previously the recipient of a Rs.1.5 million grant by the SCWomenInTech competition. The founder claims that the startup has served more than 300,000 patients in the last 18 months.
She attributed this customer base to the healthtech startup’s partnership with 12 life and health insurance companies. medIQ calls itself “the country’s first integrated B2B virtual care platform”.
medIQ is the first female-founded startup to raise funding in 2022 while two female cofounded ventures have also raised investment. Meanwhile, male-led companies bagged the remaining 25 deals. The gulf is even wider in terms of amount as male-led companies accounted for $202.65m of the $205.35m disclosed funding so far.
The company aims to use the funds raised to invest in its tech infrastructure including AI and machine learning tools. They also plan to expand their services to 20 cities in Pakistan.
