TERN Group's $24M Series A puts UAE nurse hiring claims under compliance test

TERN Group raised a $24 million Series A on September 11, 2025, giving UAE hospital leaders a fresh vendor to test against licensing delays and nurse vacancy costs.

The financing matters most for COOs, HR directors and hospital owners who need clinical staff on rosters, not just in candidate databases. TERN Group says its platform cuts international hiring timelines from 6-12 months to under 10 weeks. In the UAE, that promise has to work inside the rules of the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), the Department of Health - Abu Dhabi (DOH) and the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP).

What TERN Group is selling

The Wamda report said the $24 million Series A was led by Notion Capital, with participation from EQ2 Ventures, RTP Global, LocalGlobe, Leo Capital, Presight Capital and Tom Stafford, co-founder of DST Global. Wamda said the round brings TERN Group's total funding to $33 million, after a seed round in 2024.

Founded in 2023 by Avinav Nigam and Krishna Ramkumar, TERN Group trains, certifies and deploys healthcare professionals from 13 countries, according to Wamda. The company says more than 650,000 professionals are registered on its platform for job access, upskilling and direct employer matching.

• International hiring timeline: TERN Group says hiring can fall from 6-12 months to under 10 weeks.
• Cost: TERN Group claims 3X savings against traditional recruitment routes.
• Productivity: TERN Group cites 15-20% workforce productivity gains.
• Retention: TERN Group reports 96% retention after placement.

"The GCC, and particularly the UAE, is a critical region for us as healthcare demand continues to accelerate," said Avinav Nigam, founder and CEO of TERN Group.

The UAE compliance test

The UAE test is credentialing discipline. A nurse or physician pipeline has commercial value only when candidates clear primary source verification, exams, facility onboarding and regulator approval under DHA, DOH or MOHAP rules. For a 2026 staffing plan, the useful metric is the number of licensed staff who can join a duty roster by a fixed date.

For CFOs, the $24 million raise points to a procurement category that is often split across recruitment fees, language training, relocation support and agency churn. A platform claiming a 60% faster time-to-hire has to prove lower vacancy cost, lower overtime and lower replacement spending over at least 12 months.

For CIOs, the risk is integration. TERN Group says its AI engine handles resume parsing, compliance tracking, screening and interviews. UAE hospital groups should test whether those workflows connect with HR information systems, learning systems and regulator-facing credential files without duplicate records or weak audit trails.

What to watch next

TERN Group said the new capital will expand its AI platform, training operations and compliance infrastructure, and deepen partnerships with healthcare providers in the GCC, Europe and the UK. Wamda said more than 100 global healthcare clients are deploying or piloting the company's workflows.

The UAE demand case is capacity expansion. New hospitals, specialty centres and home-care providers need nurses, allied health staff and doctors before beds can generate revenue. Wamda cited projected UAE healthcare spending of more than $50 billion by 2029, but operators should separate market growth from executable workforce supply.

Hospital owners should watch whether TERN Group converts the $24 million round into signed UAE provider contracts, regulator-compatible credentialing processes and published placement outcomes. The concrete proof point is a UAE deployment showing how many licensed staff moved from offer to duty roster, under which regulator, and in how many days.