Pakistan’s leading health-tech startup Marham.pk has raised $1 million in Seed Funding to double down on growth into a healthcare super-app. The round is led by Indus Valley Capital, a Pakistan-focused VC founded by former LinkedIn executive Aatif Awan. The round also includes the participation of top angel investor Weihan Liew from Southeast Asia.
In Pakistan, millions of patients die each year due to quackery, inaccessibility of qualified doctors, and lack of technology. Patients spend almost $3 billion every year on private healthcare. However, the experience of finding a suitable and specialist doctor is painful, rough, and often ends up without a solution.
Marham.pk was the 1st digital platform that helped patients find qualified doctors and book appointments via a website, mobile application, and a tele-helpline. Within a few years, Marham evolved as the leading telemedicine platform providing online video consultations to patients. Marham has registered 20,000 doctors from 67 cities in Pakistan and helped 10 Million+ patients through its network. 100,000+ reviews and health stories on the Marham.pk empower patients to make the right decision in minutes.
“Our vision is to build a healthcare ecosystem, for patients, doctors, and hospitals to ensure faster care and better experience via technology, processes, and telemedicine-enabled micro-clinics across Pakistan. I believe we are all set to do this because of the 1st mover advantage, well-equipped team, and the ability to sustain through bootstrapping.”, said Ehsan Imam – CEO & Co-Founder
At the same time, Marham helps doctors to digitize their practices. Doctors can manage their appointments, patient records and create awareness through Marham. Marham also provides feedback for doctors on how to improve their patient care through an interactive rating system.
Asma Omer, Co-founder & COO Marham shared “For a developing economy like Pakistan, Marham will be a fortune-changer, that will save millions of lives, for years to come, and patients will get quality healthcare from authentic doctors, which will be easily accessible and affordable at the same time.”
Marham has recently launched additional services for lab test booking and online medicine to cater to the current needs, partnering with the leading labs and pharmacy networks in Pakistan. This has transformed Marham into a medical super-app for those seeking healthcare.
Aatif Awan, leading Investor and the Managing Partner of Indus Valley Capital, said:
“We are excited to partner with Marham on their journey to provide affordable, quality healthcare to everyone in Pakistan. The founders’ passion is inspiring, and the progress they’ve already made while bootstrapping is impressive. We look forward to working with them to accelerate Marham’s growth.”
Marham has bootstrapped for years and achieved all the growth so far with limited resources, now with available funding, Marham aims to become the market leader for the health-tech industry and expand its services to smaller cities and rural areas. Marham currently has a team of 80 people and aims to hire new talent in the group actively. Marham is recognized as one of those prestigious startups that believe in the culture of teamwork and excellence.
Angel investor Weihan Liew , said, “Across the developing world, telemedicine will disrupt and democratize access to healthcare in the coming decade. As a venture investor in emerging markets, I am impressed by the Marham founders’ vision and tenacity and am honored to participate in their journey to reshape how healthcare will be delivered in Pakistan. ”
“We are immensely grateful to all the advisors and team members. It’s beautiful to grow together with such a loyal and diverse team. We are all in to build a better healthcare future for Pakistan.” said Ehsan Imam.