(Ecofin Agency) - With its investment in Saudi teleradiology provider Arkan United, Rology expands into the Middle East, materializing a plan announced in April 2022 when it closed a pre-Series A round.  

Egyptian teleradiology platform Rology has acquired an undisclosed equity stake in Saudi peer Arkan United, a release announced on Sunday, June 4.  The acquisition enables the platform to enter the Saudi healthcare market. 

According to Arkan United CEO Tarik Baeshen, the stake acquisition will extend the Saudi healthtech company’s services across Saudi Arabia and beyond. Specifically, Rology will combine its network and technology with Arkan’s expertise to expand in this Middle Eastern country.

This expansion into the Middle East comes more than a year after Rology raised an undisclosed amount in pre-series A funding from a group of local and foreign investors. The proceeds were to support the Egyptian start-up's expansion in the Middle East and Africa. Two years earlier, in 2020, Rology raised nearly $860,000 to finance its growth.

By choosing Saudi Arabia as a stepping stone for its Middle East expansion, Rology made a strategic move. According to the healthtech company, Saudi Arabia is "a key market and one of the most important in the region". Citing 2020 figures from the Saudi Ministry of Health, Rology reports that in almost 10 regions in Saudi Arabia, private hospitals do not have a radiology consultant. Where radiologists are present, there are not enough of them to meet patient demand.

In April 2022, Egypt Ventures, one of Rology's shareholders, reported that the radiology sector had experienced accelerated growth worldwide since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition to the Rology platform, other firms, such as imaging and radiology services specialist MetaMed, also operate in Saudi Arabia.

Chamberline Moko