A Senegalese healthtech startup is getting a new owner as European health insurer Alan looks to establish a foothold in Africa.
Alan has acquired Tanel, a Dakar-based digital health and insurance company operating in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire, in a deal whose value has not been disclosed. The transaction, which closed in June, marks Alan’s first acquisition on the continent.
For Tanel, the deal brings a full exit for investors including Ventures Platform, AAIC Investment and a group of angel investors, while giving the startup access to Alan’s capital, technology and international reinsurance network.
The acquisition also comes at an unusual time for African startups. While major exits have historically been concentrated in Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Kenya, Tanel was built in Francophone West Africa and operates in the health insurance market, a sector that has produced fewer large exits.
Tanel had been preparing to raise a Series A earlier this year when Alan approached its founders about a possible acquisition.
“The plan was to raise the Series A earlier this year, and then Alan reached out, and we ran a dual process,” said Mouhamed Ndoye, Tanel’s CEO. “At some point we realised that going through the acquisition with Alan was more interesting for us, given the opportunity to expand across Africa.”
Tanel was founded in 2021 by Ndoye and Makhtar Diop to address the largely paper-based way employers and healthcare providers managed health insurance in Senegal.
The company initially focused on pharmacy management software before expanding into other parts of the healthcare system. Its founders had previously tried businesses including home-based primary care and prescription delivery but found that the infrastructure needed to support them was lacking.
They eventually decided to build that infrastructure themselves.
Tanel went on to become a licensed insurer, allowing it to take on the financial risk attached to the health plans it sells rather than simply managing policies for another insurance company.
The company primarily serves employers, providing health coverage for employees and their families. It has also built a network of pharmacies, hospitals and clinics across Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire, allowing members to access healthcare without paying upfront and waiting for reimbursement.
Today, Tanel covers about 70,000 people across more than 400 companies and connects its customers to more than 1,200 pharmacies and healthcare providers, according to Ndoye. About 30,000 of those covered are paying customers.
Ndoye said Tanel became profitable in 2025, although he declined to disclose revenue. At the time of the acquisition, Senegal generated about 90% of the company’s revenue, while Côte d’Ivoire accounted for the remaining 10%.
Before the acquisition, Tanel had raised $2.45 million across two rounds: $350,000 in pre-seed funding and a $2.1 million seed round in 2024.
Alan participated in that 2024 seed round, giving the French company an early look at Tanel’s growth and operations.
The relationship continued after the investment, with Ndoye regularly speaking with Alan’s chief executive, Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werve, through monthly calls and investor updates.
That familiarity eventually turned into an acquisition conversation.
Alan made the first approach and asked whether Tanel’s founders would consider selling the company. Ndoye said the two companies had found strong similarities in their culture and approach to healthcare.
“There was a lot of alignment over the last few years,” Ndoye said. “We realised they are very similar in culture and similar in mission, so we said, why not go down this route?”
The acquisition price has not been disclosed, and Ndoye declined to provide a valuation range or details on how the consideration was split between cash and Alan shares. He described the outcome as meaningful for Tanel’s investors.
Because Tanel operates as a licensed insurer, the transaction also required regulatory clearances, which Ndoye said were completed quickly.
The founders are staying with the business. Ndoye and Diop will continue as general managers, reporting directly to Alan’s chief executive, while the rest of the Tanel team will take on equivalent roles within Alan.
The acquisition will also change how Tanel manages insurance risk.
Before the deal, Tanel underwrote and carried its own risk on a balance sheet built from $2.45 million in total funding. As part of Alan, it will have access to global reinsurers, allowing it to transfer some of that risk and potentially take on larger volumes of customers.
“We take on the risk. That is something we have managed ourselves,” Ndoye said. “One of the good things about Alan is that we now benefit from reinsurance, because Alan works with global reinsurers able to take that on.”
Tanel will also gain access to Alan’s technology and preventive healthcare products. Alan has been moving beyond traditional health insurance by using technology and data to identify potential health risks earlier and help members manage them before they become more serious.
The French company raised €480 million in June, with plans to invest in acquisitions, artificial intelligence, healthcare services and expansion into new markets. Tanel is its first acquisition in Africa.
Alan currently has more than 1.2 million members across France, Spain, Belgium and Canada. It reported more than $927 million in annual recurring revenue in the first quarter of 2026, up 53% year on year, and is profitable in France.
For Tanel, the next step is to deepen its presence in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire before moving into other African markets.
The company is considering markets including Nigeria and Kenya, alongside additional Francophone countries. Its broader ambition with Alan is to reach one million customers across Africa by 2030.
“Technology can widen access to care at scale only when it is paired with teams that know their markets,” Samuelian-Werve said, pointing to Tanel’s relationships with regulators, healthcare providers and employers.
For Ventures Platform, one of Tanel’s early investors, the acquisition validates the idea that Senegal can serve as a launchpad for businesses targeting the wider Francophone African market.
“We didn’t back Tanel because Senegal is a big market,” said Dotun Olowoporoku, managing partner at Ventures Platform. “We backed Tanel because Senegal is a market they can dominate and replicate the same playbook in the Francophone region.”
Tanel’s expansion into Côte d’Ivoire provided an early test of that strategy, showing that its model could be replicated beyond its home market.
The company’s insurance licence was another key part of the investment case. Rather than building technology first and relying on an existing insurer, Tanel secured its licence before developing its platform, giving it greater control over the insurance product and risk.
For Ventures Platform, the acquisition also provides a tangible return to its investors after backing the company at an early stage.
“It means cash back to our LPs,” Olowoporoku said.
The deal offers another example of how African startups can become acquisition targets by building valuable combinations of technology, regulatory expertise, customer relationships and local operating knowledge.
For Tanel, that opportunity began in Senegal. With Alan now behind the business, the company is betting that the same model can travel much further across Africa.
