“Operating Where Health Meets Wealth”
Dr. Razouki has 20 years of experience in venture capital and private equity investment with a focus on healthcare and technology, shifting in a sfumato-style fashion from an excellence in clinical practice and research to the management and financing of healthcare and education systems. A graduate of Columbia Business School, Dr. Razouki received an MBA with a focus on Healthcare Management and Finance. Dr. Razouki is a member of the Hermes Honors Society of Columbia Business School, an honor bestowed on the top 1000 global alumni of the university. An Oral and Maxillofacial surgeon by training, Dr. Razouki has completed clinical rotations at New York-Presbyterian Hospital of Columbia University Medical Center, Harlem Hospital, Cleveland University Hospital of Case Western Reserve University and Mass General Hospital of Harvard University. Dr. Razouki graduated with Cum Laude Honors from Creighton University with a Bachelor's in Biology (Ethology) and TPP (Theology, Philosophy and Political Science).
As an anatomist, Dr. Razouki has dissected over 37 cadavers and has worked as an Assistant Prosector at Columbia University under the late Professor Ernest Wilfred April. He is a published author on anatomical anomalies and has named four new anatomical features including the eponymous, Razouki’s Dorsal Callus and the Prophet Mohammad’s (PBUH) Protuberance.
Dr. Razouki has authored three books, “An Arab Science Spring,” “Dashing in the Desert”, and “Hybrid Healthcare.” “An Arab Science Spring” is divided into 10 sections and was produced via a combined 1,000 plus man-hours. It includes detailed profiles of 57 institutions that have funded, supported, and published close to 1,500 significant scientific papers and registered over 30,000 unique patents in the Middle East and North Africa. “Dashing in the Desert” is a collection of articles and stories covering the topic of entrepreneurship across the Arab world. Each chapter is filled with detailed tips and curated case studies to help both entrepreneurs and investors achieve their true potential. “Hybrid Healthcare” is an academic textbook published by Springer focused on novel healthcare technologies that combine the potential of digital health with traditional high-touch modalities of care that are evidence-based under peer-reviewed principles. The book is about quantifying the qualitative and demonstrating that the future of healthcare, is a hybrid of both traditional (in-person) healthcare and a new digital and technology-driven paradigm.
In 2007, Dr. Razouki joined the world’s largest and oldest strategic consulting firm, Booz Allen Hamilton, which at the time was operating in over 100 countries across six continents with four billion dollars in revenue. Dr Razouki had the honor of working with all six GCC Ministers of health and completed health and public sector projects across the GCC, Lebanon, and Egypt.
In 2009, Dr. Razouki was selected to join the Office of Tony Blair to lead the development of the Kuwait 2030 Vision for Health. Education and Entrepreneurship together with the Council of Minister of Kuwait. Dr. Razouki was also selected to head the Prime Minister’s Early Warning System Committee on Health and played an integral part in the establishment of the Kuwait Talent Bank, which would go on to form the backbone of the Kuwait Youth Parliament and the future Ministry of State for Youth Affairs.
In 2011, Dr. Razouki and his partners completed the purchase of a Kuwait-based healthcare development company, rebranded as Kleos Healthcare. Today, Kleos is widely recognized as a regional thought leader on Middle East healthcare, with a variety of projects in its pipeline ranging from developing a Medical Takaful Insurance company to working on a 750 mn USD government PPP.
In 2012, Dr. Razouki co-founded Dubai-based Glambox.me, one of the region’s leading e-commerce platforms that later on completed a ~1.4mn USD Series A funding round (which at the time was the largest Series A round in the history of Middle East entrepreneurship) with notable MENA VC firms including STC Ventures, MBC Ventures and R&R Ventures, as well as a subsequent 3.5 USD Series B round and a successful exit in 2017.
Dr. Razouki has also invested in multiple digital platforms in New York and Silicon Valley, including most notably, Instavest.com, a global leader in personalized FinTech valued at 12 mn USD that manages over $250 mn worth of assets, and ShiftSmart, a leading San Francisco startup focusing on improving employee development and retention for the growing Sharing Economy valued at 5mn USD.
In 2015, Dr. Razouki was the first-ever Kuwaiti doctor to complete the “Reforming of Public Systems: Health, Higher Education and Finance” Executive Education course at the prestigious Grande École, Paris Institute of Political Studies (“Sciences Po”).
Dr. Razouki believes that the future of healthcare is approaching the singularity of coalescing the physical world with the digital. As a result, Dr. Razouki has incubated, funded, and developed multiple local, regional and international digital health platforms including the 2014 LTE MENA winner for best mobile application — AbiDoc — the region’s first online appointment booking platform and call center and Kuwait’s largest network of private hospitals, clinics and doctors, MEDtrip — the world’s top medical tourism platform with offices in Denver, Colorado and Cebu, Philippines, Sihatech — Saudi Arabia’s largest digital health application company, Nabta Health, the MENA region’s first women’s health application, and Cera Care, a London based digital health company focused on excellence in elder care across Europe, which was awarded the Healthcare Startup of the Year 2016 at the Healthcare Startup Awards, from over 1000 entries.
In 2015, Dr. Razouki was presented with the Kuwait e-Award for best eHealth application by His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, the Emir of Kuwait. Dr. Razouki was also selected by Stanford Medicine as part of a group of 20 global authors to write a chapter on digital health investing in the Springer-published book: Digital Health: Scaling Healthcare to the World. He is the only author from the Arab World.
In 2015, Dr. Razouki was also an Industry Expert Board Member at Al Ayadi Al Baytha Health Company, a 50 mn USD fully owned company of Al Khabeer Capital, which is one of Saudi Arabia’s largest and most active private equity investors with over three billion dollars of assets under management. Dr. Razouki worked together with the turnaround team at Al Khabeer and the asset’s management to unlock unrealized value in one of Saudi Arabia’s fastest-growing medical services companies.
In 2016, Dr. Razouki was selected by the Abdul Rahman Al Sumait Award Executive Committee to represent the science community in Kuwait and present at the first-ever meeting of the committee. The Committee is co-chaired by His Excellency Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al Hamad Al Sabah, Kuwait’s then Minister of Foreign Affairs and current Prime Minister, as well as Mr. Bill Gates. At one million USD it is the largest science prize awarded in for scientific achievement in Africa. Dr. Razouki was also nominated as one of the top five venture capital investors in the Middle East and North Africa by Arabian Business. Dr. Razouki also won two awards at the seventh annual Middle East Healthcare Leadership Awards for both Middle East Public Private Partnership of the Year for the Jaber Hospital PPP Sustainable Hospital Project as well as Healthcare Entrepreneur of the Year. Dr. Razouki also won the prestigious Best Startup Award at the 2016 ArabNet Riyadh StartUp Battle Field competition as well as the winner of the 2017 Startup Championship MENA, for Sihatech.
Dr. Razouki was also selected to participate in the prestigious World Economic Forum Global Health and Healthcare Community Meeting in 2016 as part of the Future Trends in Health Task Force which was Chaired by Dr. Melanie Walker, Advisor to the President of the World Bank, Dr. Jim Young Kim. Dr. Razouki was the only participant from Kuwait and had the honor of having seven out of the 10 final key technological trends and themes accepted in the final outcome report of the forum. Dr. Razouki was also selected by the World Economic Forum and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) as one of the 100 top entrepreneurs shaping the 4th Industrial Revolution in the MENA region.
In 2017, Dr. Razouki was appointed to the Advisory Board of Popular Science Magazine. An outlet for eminent scientists such as Charles Darwin and Thomas Edison’s writings and ideas in the 19th century, Popular Science is the most prestigious science magazine in the world and was first launched in 1872.
Dr. Razouki was also appointed by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences to the Board of Trustees of the Jaber Al Ahmed Center for Molecular Imaging and Nuclear Medicine (JAC), the MENA region’s first center of excellence and Type II facility dedicated to the production of common radiopharmaceuticals for applications in positron emission tomography. Dr. Razouki is also Chairman of the Executive Committee.
Dr. Razouki is also the Principal Author of the annual Middle East Science Report, first presented at the World Bank Meeting on Youth and Technology in Algiers (Video Start Time 1:08), the region’s premier publication on the state of science in the MENA region capturing the progress of scientific thought and research across 50 of the region’s top universities and research institutions as well as interviewing over 100 of the region’s top scientific minds.
Dr. Razouki has also been invited to lecture at top universities and events including Cambridge University, Columbia University, Harvard University, and the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Razouki has also spoken at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East (Dead Sea, 2017) and the World Bank: Youth, Technology and Finance Conference in Algiers in 2018.
In 2017, Dr. Razouki and his partners also closed the largest successful Series A in the history of technology entrepreneurship in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by securing 5 million Saudi Riyals to support the growth of the Saudi Internet Health Application Technology Company (www.Sihatech.com) from Waed Aramco Entrepreneurship and existing strategic investor Waseel ASP.
As a co-founder of Nabta Health, Dr. Razouki is the proud winner of the People’s Choice Award at ArabNet (Kuwait, 2017) as well as the winner of Start Up Championship at the STEP Conference (Dubai 2018) where Nabta was chosen by a panel of judges from over 200 ventures across the MENA region. Nabta Health was also awarded the Best Scientific Paper at the Innovation Arabia Forum (Dubai, 2018).
In 2018, Dr. Razouki was also recognized as one of the top 100 Leaders Who Inspire in an inaugural book on Kuwait developed in coordination with the United National Development Program (UNDP). Dr. Razouki also contributed a chapter on Growth Hacking Healthcare, as part of the Springer published book: Digital Health Entrepreneurship.
In 2019, Dr. Razouki established, BaitCare, as Kuwait’s Leading Home Care Company focused on Physiotherapy, Post Stroke Rehabilitation, Post Surgery Rehabilitation, Nursing, and Sports Therapy. That same year, Dr. Razouki was honored by CNBC by the inclusion of both Sihatech and Nabta Health as the only two companies from the MENA region to be part of the 100 Most Promising Technology Ventures in the world. Dr. Razouki was elected as the Treasurer of the inaugural Kuwaiti Society of Science, Technology, and Innovation, the country’s most prestigious social gathering of STEM professionals. Dr. Razouki was also nominated for a third time by Arabian Business as Investor of the Year and Mentor of the Year at the 2019 Arabian Business Awards in Dubai. Dr. Razouki was also included in the HIMSS Future50 International List aimed at identifying and bringing together the top 50 Healthcare IT leaders in Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. Dr. Razouki was also selected to be part of the first-ever Kuwait Knowledge Index, a joint initiative between the World Bank and the General Secretariat of the Supreme Council for Planning of Kuwait.
In 2020, Dr. Razouki was appointed to the Founding Committee of the Kuwait Innovation Center (KIC) an initiative of the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) established after the announcement of His Highness the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah:
“To create an ideal environment for innovation and attracting Kuwaiti intellectuals, inventors, and innovators and entrepreneurs whose ideas contribute to supporting the Kuwaiti economy, and through which provide many more job opportunities”
The mission of KIC is to further foster the socio-economic development of Kuwait by promoting and advancing entrepreneurship and scalable start-ups that are able to further enhance the national innovation ecosystem. Thus, the main role of the center is to support entrepreneurs, with an emphasis on the youth, and companies to guide them through the various phases of the innovation lifecycle. The committee will also oversee the establishment of a $250 million Arab Technology Innovation Fund, which will be the third-largest venture capital fund focused on the Middle East and North Africa region.
In May, 2021, Dr. Razouki was selected to represent the State of Kuwait on the Board of Directors of the Arab Company for Drug Industries and Medical Appliances (ACDIMA), a Pan-Arab Public-Private Partnership established by Arab Economic Unity Council on March 6th, 1976 with a paid-up capital of 60 million KD (roughly one billion dollars in 2020). ACDIMA maintains strategic ownership in fifteen large-cap Middle East and North Africa pharmaceutical manufacturers including the Saudi Pharmaceutical Industries & Medical Appliances Corporation (SPIMACO) is a Saudi Joint Stock company with a fully paid-up capital of 1.2 billion Saudi Riyals and the Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries Manufacturers (Julphar) of the UAE, an ADX listed company with a market cap of around one billion AED. ACDIMA shareholders include the MENA region's top sovereign wealth funds including the Kuwait Investment Authority, the Public Investment Authority of Saudi Arabia, the Qatar Investment Authority, the Libyan Foreign Investment Company, the Jordan Investment Corporation, as well as direct governmental ownership by the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Republic of Algeria, the Republic of Tunisia, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the State of Palestine, the Syrian Arab Republic, the Republic of Yemen, the Republic of Sudan, the Sultanate of Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. At ACDIMA, Dr. Razouki was the Vice Chairman of the Board’s Mergers and Acquisition Executive Committee.
In March 2022, Dr. Razouki was appointed to the board of the Tassili Arab Pharmaceutical Company (TAPHCO), a pharmaceutical manufacturing company based in Algeria and jointly owned by ACDIMA, SPIMACO and Groupe Saidal — Algeria’s largest private pharmaceutical company. In May 2022, Dr. Razouki was appointed to the board of the Arab Pharmaceutical Company, based in Khartoum, Sudan where he was also selected to spearhead the Technical Committee and the CEO Search Committee.
In July 2022, Dr. Razouki published his latest book in “Hybrid Healthcare” in partnership with Ms. Sophie Smith and global publishing powerhouse Springer. This essential book reviews how digital health ventures can be integrated with more traditional techniques to revolutionize the healthcare system. Details of the current state of the digital marketplace, the available tools for early detection and diagnostics that presently employ digital technologies are provided. Relevant aspects of blockchain, artificial intelligence including data lake development and data analytics are described. The role of regulators and legislation including GDPR are also covered.
Hybrid Healthcare provides a thorough overview of how digital health entrepreneurs will need to employ a hybrid approach to address many healthcare challenges of the 21st century. It is, therefore, an indispensable resource for all those seeking to develop their knowledge of this rapidly growing sector, contrasting the almost chiaroscuro conventional wisdom of a siloed approach to incorporating digital health innovations into traditional (evidence-based) clinical pathways.
In October 2022, Dr. Razouki was selected to lead the Innovation Committee of the Sabah Al-Ahmad Center for Giftedness and Creativity (SACGC). As a leading catalyst of Kuwaiti innovation, SACGC was established in May 2010 as an initiative by the Late Emir of Kuwait, His Royal Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah with the aim to nurture Kuwaiti individuals with exceptional ability and innovations. The Center is dedicated to facilitating the integration of knowledge and intelligence by sponsoring gifted and creative individuals, creating an environment that generates transformational effects across the community, with the ultimate goal of boosting social, economic, and cultural development in Kuwait.
In March 2023, Dr. Razouki was elected as the President of the Kuwait Society for Science, Technology and Innovation (KSSTI), a non-profit organization officially licensed by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor. Founded in 2021, KSSTI aims to educate the local community on the importance of science, technology and innovation in order to diversify the sources of Kuwait’s national income and foster the development of a true Knowledge Economy based on STI principles.
In June 2023, Dr. Razouki completed the Navigating Change: Decision‐Making, Negotiation and Leadership Strategies course at the Harvard Kennedy School (John F. Kennedy School of Government), a custom executive education program targeting the needs of senior Kuwaiti government and private sector leadership. This customized program explored new methods of working across traditional sectors and organizational divisions to identify, understand, and address emerging business and public problems.
In July 2023, Dr. Razouki was appointed to Chairman of the Board of Al-Nukhba Medical Training Company, a majority-owned subsidiary company of KLSC that operates Kuwait’s premiere medical exhibition organizer, Universal Conferences and the Life Sciences Academy (LSA), the region’s first specialized provider of continuing medical education (CME) courses for both clinicians and leaders in healthcare.
Dr. Razouki is the former Chief Business Development Officer of Kuwait Life Sciences Company (KLSC) where he was part of a team that manages over 150 million dollars in assets under management including local, regional, and international investments on behalf of the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Kuwait. KLSC is part of a group; the National Technology Enterprises Company (NTEC), which was incorporated in November of 2002 by the Kuwait Council of Ministers as a fully owned company by the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Kuwait. Capitalized at 100 million Kuwait Dinars (KD) which is equivalent to approximately $350 million US Dollars, NTEC aims to play a vital role in servicing major stakeholders in Kuwait and the Middle East region with their technology requirements and currently managed over one billion dollars in assets.
Dr. Razouki is considered a thought leader within the life sciences industry and has championed the building of strong pillars of the local life sciences ecosystem including the region’s premier pharmaceutical licensing and distribution platform; NewBridge — a 100 mn USD revenue company operating across all 22 MENA countries including Iraq, Iran and Turkey as well as South Africa, Clinart — the region’s top Clinical Research Organization (CRO) and host of the first-ever Phase II Clinical Trial in the history of Kuwait at the Dasman Diabetes Institute which achieved a successful exit to CTI in Q3 2020, eCore — the region’s top active pharmaceutical ingredients licensor and distributor, the Life Sciences Academy — the region’s first-ever training and development company focused on the healthcare and life sciences industry as well as Innomedics — one of Kuwait’s top medical device distribution companies that pioneered the distribution of personalized digital health products in the region.
At KLSC, Dr. Razouki and his team invested and co-invested with some of the world’s top life science venture capital funds including, New Leaf Venture Partners in New York, Wellington Partners in Munich, Sofinnova Partners in Paris and Kearny Venture Partners and Presidio Partners both of which are based in San Francisco. Notable investment direct and indirect investments include: CRISPR Therapeutics — a leading personalized genomic medicine company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts (NASDAQ: CRSP), iRhythm Technologies, based in San Francisco, which closed 56% above its listed stock price on the first day of its IPO (NASDAQ: IRTC), Quanta Fluid Solutions — one of the world’s first home hemodialysis manufacturers, Median Technologies — a leading global provider of medical imaging solutions, especially in the field of oncology based in France (EPA: ALMDT) and SuperSonic Imagine — a leading global provider of medical ultrasound solutions also based in France (EPA: SSI)
Dr. Razouki is also a former advisor to the central Kuwaiti government where he worked with senior government leaders during the administration of HE the Prime Minister Sheikh Naser Al Mohammad Al Sabah and Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Sheikh Ahmed Al Fahad Al Sabah on Healthcare, Education and Entrepreneurial reforms as part of Kuwait’s 100 billion dollar Development Plan. Dr. Razouki continues to work closely with the Council of Ministers of Kuwait and is currently advising the government on the development of the Sabah Al Ahmad National Genome Center together with the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences, a National Pharmaceutical Quality Control Laboratory, and the 1 bn USD Jaber Hospital project, a 1,168 facility which will be the largest single healthcare structure in the Middle East.
In late 2021, Dr. Razouki was appointed to a higher committee by His Excellency, Mr. Abdul Aziz Dakheel Al Dakheel, Head of the Prime Minister’s Diwan to lead a team of experts in developing the 2022 to 2024 Strategy for the Prime Minister’s Diwan, including Key Performance Indicators and an Execution Roadmap.
In October 2023, Dr. Razouki joined Deerfield Management in New York as an Operating Partner. Launched in 1994, Deerfield is an investment firm dedicated to advancing healthcare through information, investment, and philanthropy — all toward the end goal of cures for disease, improved quality of life, and reduced cost of care. As of December 31st, 2023, the firm manages more than $14.6 billion in assets. Providing value beyond capital, Deerfield generally maintains a combined portfolio of more than 200 private and public investments across the life science, medical device, diagnostic, digital health and health service industries at all stages of evolution from start-up to mature company
As an angel investor, Dr. Razouki has invested in multiple Seed, Series A and yCombinator startups alongside legendary investors including Mark Cuban, Peter Sands, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Gilles Martin, Tim Jackson, Paul Wilmott, Andrew Brode, David Buttress, Guillaume Amblard, Dr. Oliver Ullrich, Bradley Tusk, Jordon Nof, and Malik Si-Hassen.
Dr. Razouki is a passionate member and supporter of Qadsia Sports Club, where he was the former Captain of the Qadsia Swimming Team in addition to Captaining the Kuwaiti National Swimming Team; winning 167 gold medals and breaking 17 individual and medley records across various national, regional and international competitions. He currently enjoys aviation and equestrian sports during the winter and kitesurfing and wakeboarding during the summer.
Books Published by Dr. Mussaad M. Al-Razouki:
“Hybrid Healthcare” , “An Arab Science Spring” and “Dashing in the Desert” are available online.