Building Global Ambitions from Doha Adel Haddad, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Aumet, an AI first procurement operating system for healthcare, on how his journey reflects the promise of Qatar's evolving startup ecosystem.

Before co-founding Aumet, an AI-first procurement operating system for healthcare, Adel Haddad worked in finance, corporate and investment banking, which offered valuable structure and discipline but also highlighted the limits of large organizations. To broaden his perspective, he pursued an MBA at IE Business School, where he deepened his interest in entrepreneurship and innovation. However, it was his Aumet co-founder, Yahya Aqel, who ultimately ignited his entrepreneurial spark. "While working in pharmaceutical supply chains, Yahya experienced first-hand how manual and wasteful procurement cycles were, and how fragile healthcare supply chains became during COVID-19. For me, it was the convergence of seeking a faster-paced environment and tackling a meaningful inefficiency. Together we decided to build Aumet to address those pain points in healthcare procurement."

As an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled business-to-business (B2B) healthcare platform that provides tailored solutions to healthcare providers, Aumet sprang to life in the US, Saudi Arabia, and is now a part of TASMU Accelerator by Qatar's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT). "Healthcare providers—hospitals, clinics, pharmacies—struggled with two interrelated issues: access and waste. On one side, securing the right medicines on time was difficult due to fragmented procurement and supply chain silos. On the other, huge quantities of medicine expired unused because of short shelf life and poor forecasting," Haddad explains. "In Qatar, as in the wider region, providers lacked digital infrastructure for inventory forecasting, redistribution, or real-time data-driven procurement. That gap is what Aumet set out to solve: building a platform that minimizes waste, ensures consistent supply, and reduces inefficiencies across the healthcare value chain."

Aumet now operates in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jordan, Egypt, and France. "We are at a pivotal moment, closing our Series A round. This will allow us to expand in Qatar by hiring a dedicated business development team and tapping into the strong data science talent pool from local universities," Haddad says.

Beyond fundraising, Haddad adds, Aumet has already proven the impact of its solution at scale. "In Jordan, we successfully digitized the procurement and inventory cycle for the Ministry of Health's hospitals," he says. "At Al-Bashir Hospital, the largest in the country, our system reduced medication waste significantly—translating into over JOD2.3 million in savings in just one year. That success has validated both our technology and our model, giving us a strong case study to replicate in Qatar and beyond."

Having raised pre-seed, seed stages, and pre-Series A round, the Aumet team is now encouraged that Qatar Development Bank (QDB), one of Qatar's sovereign entities, has come on board as a strategic backer in its current Series A round. "It is helping us bring our solution into the public hospital system. This type of institutional support not only provides capital but also credibility and access to major stakeholders," Haddad says. "We're also seeing a shift among other investors in Qatar. While early-stage risk appetite is still developing, accelerators like TASMU Accelerator | MCIT have bridged that gap by validating startups, connecting them with corporates, and providing structured pathways for engagement. This is creating more confidence for investors to consider backing early-stage companies."

In developing the Aumet platform, Haddad found it challenging to balance the fast-paced nature of a startup with the slower, more structured processes of larger institutions. "Public procurement processes and regulatory frameworks often take time, which can feel slow for an agile company like ours," he says. "We've learned to adapt by starting with smaller pilots that demonstrate value quickly. Once stakeholders see tangible results, it's easier to build trust and scale. We also invest heavily in relationship-building with regulators, hospital administrators, and partners early on, so that when the time comes to expand, we're already aligned."

As Qatar positions itself as a regional hub for innovation, the country's expanding ecosystem of investors, regulators, and accelerators has become a key enabler for emerging entrepreneurs. Within this dynamic environment, Haddad explains how the local support network has shaped and accelerated his journey. "The support ecosystem has been instrumental. TASMU Accelerator, for example, gave us direct exposure to policymakers and healthcare providers that would have been hard to reach alone," he says. "Regulators have also shown increasing openness to digital health solutions, particularly those that align with national priorities. These combined efforts create an environment where startups can genuinely plug into the ecosystem rather than operate on the fringes."

As Qatar positions itself as a regional hub for innovation, especially trough its Qatar National Vision 2030 and National Health Strategy 2024-2030, the country's expanding ecosystem of investors, regulators, and accelerators has become a key enabler for emerging entrepreneurs. Within this dynamic environment, Haddad reflects on how the local support network has shaped and accelerated his journey. "Qatar prioritizes system efficiency, resilience, and service quality—goals that align directly with our mission," he says. "For us, that alignment means our projects have strategic relevance: when we present a solution that improves efficiency in procurement and reduces waste, we are not just solving a hospital's operational problem—we are contributing to national objectives. That perspective shapes how we pitch, where we allocate resources, and how we design our partnerships."

As many founders look beyond Qatar for growth, Haddad remains focused on building a strong foundation from Doha while strategically exploring regional and global opportunities. "Qatar offers a strong foundation: reliable infrastructure, high standards of living, and visa policies that make it easier to attract international talent. That makes Doha a viable base for scaling," he says. "At the same time, our growth strategy is regional and global. We are using our success cases—like the Jordan MOH transformation—as proof points for neighboring markets in the GCC and MENA. We are exploring partnerships with regulators, large hospital groups, and distributors in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt."

Haddad concludes, "In short, Qatar is our launchpad, but our ambition is to replicate successful deployments wherever healthcare procurement challenges exist."

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