Alan, the global prevention insurance company, has completed its acquisition of Tanel, a Dakar-based digital health company operating in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire.
The deal marks Alan’s first expansion into Africa and represents a significant exit for the Francophone Africa healthtech ecosystem.
Founded in 2021 by Mouhamed Ndoye and Makhtar Diop, Tanel was established to address the challenges businesses face in managing employee health coverage through fragmented and largely paper-based systems.
The company provides digital tools that enable businesses to manage employee health coverage, while giving employees and individuals easier access to care and greater visibility into their health benefits.
Tanel operates in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire, covering approximately 70,000 members across more than 400 companies and connecting users to a network of more than 1,200 pharmacies and healthcare providers.
Alan first invested in Tanel during its 2024 seed round and has worked closely with the founders since then. The partnership gave Alan direct insight into Tanel’s technology, local expertise and execution, while both teams developed a shared understanding of how digital tools can simplify healthcare access and support preventive care.
The acquisition provides Alan with an established entry point into sub-Saharan Africa through a team with an understanding of the healthcare systems, regulations and customer needs in its markets.
For Tanel, joining Alan will provide access to additional technology, product expertise and resources to enhance its services and expand into new markets.
The companies aim to reach more than one million members across Africa by 2030, initially strengthening their operations in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire before expanding into Anglophone markets across West and East Africa.
Users and partners will continue working with Tanel’s existing team while gaining access to additional services, including telehealth and preventive healthcare support.
The companies will initially focus on integrating their products, improving the digital patient journey and adding Alan’s preventive health services to the Tanel platform.
Alan has spent years developing a model that combines prevention with health insurance, helping people take action earlier to protect their long-term health.
More than 1.2 million members currently use Alan across France, Spain, Belgium and Canada. The acquisition represents the first time the company is bringing its operating model to Africa.
Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire provide Alan with a strategic entry point into the continent, with the health insurance market in the two countries estimated at nearly €600 million and growing by around 10 per cent annually.
Building on Tanel’s local expertise and healthcare partnerships, Alan plans to roll out its technology to introduce new health services and establish a long-term presence in Africa.
Speaking on the acquisition, Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werve, CEO and co-founder of Alan, said: “Healthcare systems are evolving all over the world, but the expectations remain the same: easier access to care and support before a health problem becomes more serious. Technology can help deliver that at scale, but it has to be paired with teams that understand their markets. Tanel has done the hard work of building relationships with users, companies, healthcare providers and regulators in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire. Combining that knowledge with Alan’s platform gives us a strong base from which to build in Africa and, together, deliver on a mission we deeply believe in: health can’t wait.”
Ndoye and Diop will continue to lead Tanel’s operations and Alan’s development in Africa, supported by Alan’s international teams. Tanel’s full team will also remain in place, preserving the relationships, operational experience and market knowledge that have supported the company’s growth.
The Tanel co-founders said: “When we started Tanel, we quickly realised that much of the healthcare infrastructure we needed was missing. Building the company felt like trying to build cars where the roads did not yet exist, so we began creating the infrastructure ourselves - first for pharmacies and then across the full patient journey, to give businesses and their employees simpler, more transparent access to care. Alan has backed us since 2024 and understands both the problem we are solving and the size of the opportunity. Joining forces gives us more technology and resources to move faster.”
The transaction also provides an exit for Tanel’s founders and investors, including Ventures Platform, AAIC Investment, and angel investors such as Dr Mussaad M. Al-Razouki, Alyune-Blondin Diop, and Charles ‘Chuck’ Slaughter.
Dotun Olowoporoku, Managing Partner at Ventures Platform, said: “African tech still sees too few exits, particularly in Francophone Africa, which makes this deal an important milestone for the ecosystem. Ventures Platform backed Tanel early, when Mouhamed and Makhtar were building a company grounded in the realities of healthcare delivery in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire. Alan’s acquisition validates their vision and demonstrates the potential for ambitious, locally built companies to create lasting value. We believe the deal will encourage more investors to back founders building essential services across Africa.”
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