Daijiworld Media Network - Dubai
Dubai, Feb 25: For some entrepreneurs, innovation is driven not merely by ambition, but by personal loss. For Dubai-based Indian-origin entrepreneur Avinav Nigam, the death of a close colleague exposed critical gaps in global healthcare systems and inspired him to launch a transformative healthcare hiring platform in the UAE.
In 2022, Nigam witnessed a deeply personal loss when his 32-year-old colleague — an Oxford-educated lawyer — battled leukaemia at a leading hospital in London. After months of chemotherapy, she overcame cancer. However, due to workforce shortages within the National Health Service (NHS), she was asked to vacate her hospital bed.
Just two days before she was set to resume work at IMMO Capital, the real estate investment platform she co-founded with Nigam, she succumbed to a lung infection. According to Nigam, it was not cancer but systemic healthcare strain that ultimately claimed her life.
Determined to address global healthcare workforce shortages, Nigam went on to establish TERN Group in 2023. In September 2025, the venture secured $24 million in Series A funding.
Nigam identified a global crisis: healthcare worker shortages projected to reach 85 million by 2030, including 20 million across healthcare and social care sectors. TERN Group launched an AI-native global talent mobility platform aimed at bridging this gap.
Within 24 months, the platform reportedly achieved $30 million in annualised revenue and onboarded over 650,000 professionals. Its AI-driven interviewing system evaluates 28 attributes across 80 specialised nursing roles. The company claims a 96 per cent retention rate for placed healthcare workers and an 88 per cent conversion rate from resume to job offer. Hiring timelines have been reduced from six to 12 months to under 10 weeks.
TERN has attracted significant attention in the UAE and is competing for government-level workforce assessment contracts alongside global firms such as Palantir Technologies.
The UAE healthcare sector is projected to spend over $50 billion by 2029, while countries like Germany require an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 nurses annually. TERN promotes ethical recruitment standards and offers zero-cost training and placement for healthcare professionals.
In the UAE, the platform is assisting Emirates Health Services (EHS), which operates 134 hospitals and health centres. According to a report by Gulf News, TERN conducts AI-based interviews, evaluates clinical reasoning skills remotely, and tracks professional development to support long-term career growth and leadership development among nurses.
Nigam, an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, is no stranger to building successful ventures. He previously co-founded Cars24, now valued at $3.2 billion. He later relocated to the UK to launch IMMO Capital, Europe’s first technology-driven single-family residential investment platform.
With TERN Group, Nigam is now focused on what he views as one of the most urgent global challenges — ensuring healthcare systems are staffed not only efficiently, but sustainably.