Otida, an Egyptian health-tech startup, has raised $340,000 in a pre-seed round led by Texas-based VC Lofty Inc., with participation from Flat6Labs Cairo, Afropreneurs, Jedar Capital, OQAL Angel Investors, UI Investments, and some angel investors.

Otida is a diabetes app that acts as a nutritionist, fitness coach, and physician for diabetic patients who are struggling to get through their daily lives. This round will aid in the productization of Otida’s activities as well as distribution expansion to reach more patients.

“Otida’s business model revolves around the needs of diabetic patients,” says Ahmed Tawfic, founder and CEO of Otida. We believe that with the level of technology we have today, it is unacceptable that diabetic patients are still struggling to find the right treatment program that fits their specific condition.”

Diabetes was recently declared a global pandemic due to its unprecedented scope. In fact, more than one in every ten people worldwide suffers from diabetes, with 90 percent of those suffering from type 2, which is often milder than type 1 but can still lead to fatal health problems such as heart disease and stroke.

Furthermore, it is estimated that every 30 seconds, a lower limb or part of a lower limb is lost as a result of diabetes somewhere in the world. Egypt ranks ninth in the world in terms of diabetic population, and the country is dealing with a rapidly growing health issue that has a significant impact on morbidity, mortality, and health-care resources. Kuwait is ranked third, with nearly a 25% prevalence rate among adults.

The current diabetes care model is ineffective, reactive to symptoms, lacks personalization, relies solely on medications, and places the entire burden solely on doctors. This is an outmoded approach that Otida seeks to defy, because the diabetes care model is currently deemed ineffective due to poor data quality.

Blood tests performed only when a patient presents their case to a new physician are insufficiently representative to build effective treatment programs. This occurs because the health-care system does not account for each patient’s body’s inconsistencies; for example, their blood levels could be performing abnormally on the day the test was taken for any number of reasons.

Otida collects at least 100 data points per patient per day in order to tailor the best personalized care model for each app user. Otida’s solution is a technology-based care model that uses the most recent guidelines to present the most effective care model.

Patients who sign up for Otida receive wearables that read blood sugar levels every 15 minutes and report them to the cloud, eliminating the need for patients to prick their fingers with an antiquated blood sugar monitor.

This is in addition to information gathered from patients, such as food consumed, medication prescribed, and routine lab tests. In this manner, and in order to return the best-fitting care model, the app learns a great deal about the patient’s nutrition, glycemic responses to various foods and medications, lifestyle, and behavior.

Each patient is assigned a coach who is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Otida also educates its patients about their specific conditions, how to measure their insulin and blood levels, and how to use that information to improve their lifestyles.