Health insurance management website Bayzat secures $1 mln investment

The first health insurance management website in the Middle East, Bayzat, has just received a $1 million investment from regional venture capital firm BECO Capital.

“Health insurance is a very sophisticated product,” said Talal Bayaa, founder and CEO of Bayzat. “You give a 60 page document to the employee, and they have to go through it. We simplify the product. He can sign onto Bayzat and can search anything they want about their insurance.”

Bayzat.com offers their customers a way to easily understand and manage their health insurance policies. Their site is also the only place in the UAE where customers can compare health insurance policies. Once they decide on the appropriate product, their employees can then easily access the information.

Health insurance in the United Arab Emirates took the forefront in January 2014 when the Health Insurance Law No. 11 came into effect. By October of that year all companies with more than 1,000 employees were required to provide health insurance. By June 30, 2016 all employers and sponsors must provide health insurance for their workers.

When the site first launched in April 2014, the team began with a focus on financial and banking insurance. At the time the law was still being implemented, and more than 2 million people in Dubai were without health insurance. Eight months later, Bayzat launched their health insurance product, and it was an instant success.

“When we launched the health insurance piece, within two months we realized this was going to be our main segment,” said Bayaa. “At every turn we found that there was some obstacle for the consumer. So today we have B2B services, and we offer companies a platform they can give their employers.”

For Amir Farha, co-founder and managing partner at BECO Capital, the most exciting aspect of Bayzat is its scalability. Bayzat has expanded their offerings beyond just comparison pricing. Their technology now allows for any policy to be uploaded to the site, so that policyholders can easily understand health insurance coverage, a service human resource managers are excited about.

“What we like about it is that he (Bayaa) built a very deep product. There are many levels to it. It’s a very sophisticated product,” said Farha. “It’s very rare to find in the Middle East opportunities that have the potential to be very sizable companies.”

For Bayaa it is bringing an old industry into the technology age that has proven most difficult.

“In terms of tech the insurance industry is far behind. So, it’s getting insurance companies to buy into what we are doing.,” said Bayaa. “Saying, look we have to move forward with the times. Even the pricing is still pretty much paper based. So we are basically trying to take it from there.”