Alan, the European preventive health insurance company, has completed its acquisition of Tanel, a Dakar-based digital health company, in a deal that marks the insurer's entry into the African market.

Announced on Wednesday, 2 September 2026, the transaction also represents a significant exit for Francophone Africa's healthtech ecosystem — a region that has attracted far less venture capital and produced far fewer acquisitions than Anglophone hubs such as Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. Early investors, including Ventures Platform, AAIC Investment and several angel investors, are set to receive returns on their backing. Exits of this kind remain comparatively rare across African tech generally, which makes the deal a reference point for local founders and the funds that back them.

Tanel was founded in 2021 by Mouhamed Ndoye and Makhtar Diop to address a problem familiar to many corporate HR departments in West Africa: managing employee health coverage through systems that are fragmented, paper-heavy and difficult to navigate. The company built digital tools that give businesses clearer oversight of employee health benefits while offering workers and individuals more direct access to care. It currently operates across Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire, serving approximately 70,000 members at more than 400 companies and connecting them to over 1,200 pharmacies and healthcare providers.

Alan's involvement with Tanel predates the acquisition. The company invested in Tanel during its 2024 seed round and spent the intervening years working closely with the founding team, building first-hand insight into how the business operated before deciding to acquire it outright. That staged approach — investing first, acquiring later — mirrors a broader pattern among growth-stage tech companies seeking to enter new markets with lower risk.

"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," said Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werve, CEO and co-founder of Alan. "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."

Alan and Tanel have set a joint target of reaching more than one million members across Africa by 2030. In the near term, the priority is deepening operations in Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire — a combined health insurance market estimated at nearly €600 million and growing at around 10% annually — 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 new services, including telehealth and preventive health support.

For Alan, which already serves more than 1.2 million members across France, Spain, Belgium and Canada, the acquisition is a first test of whether a model built around prevention and early intervention can travel beyond its existing markets. Founded in France in 2016, Alan built its reputation on a fully digital, user-first insurance experience before broadening into preventive health services, and Africa is its first expansion outside Europe and North America.

Ndoye and Diop will continue to lead Tanel's operations and Alan's development across the continent. Their full team stays in place — a deliberate decision designed to preserve the relationships, regulatory understanding and market knowledge that took years to build.

"When we started Tanel, we quickly realised that much of the healthcare infrastructure we needed was missing," the co-founders said. "Building the company felt like trying to build cars where the roads did not yet exist, so we began creating the infrastructure ourselves. 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."

For Ventures Platform, one of Tanel's earliest backers, the deal carries significance beyond a single return. Managing Partner Dotun Olowoporoku described it as an important milestone for a continent that still sees too few exits, particularly in Francophone Africa.

"Alan's acquisition validates their vision and demonstrates the potential for ambitious, locally built companies to create lasting value," he said. "We believe the deal will encourage more investors to back founders building essential services across Africa."