African pharmacy chains with digital retail strategies are bagging investment
CFAO Healthcare, an Africa-focused wholesale pharmaceutical distribution company, acquired a 30% stake in Goodlife, the East African pharmacy chain. The stake was purchased from Leapfrog Investments, a private equity firm, which first backed Goodlife in 2017. The investment in Goodlife comes amid its transition from a pure brick-and-mortar business with 100 outlets across Kenya and Uganda to an integrated digital health hub with pharmacy, diagnostics and telemedicine services provided through online channels.
African telemedicine start-ups are leveraging AI-powered solutions to improve remote healthcare delivery
Nigerian telemedicine start-up LaFiya Telehealth has partnered with Canada-based NuraLogix which provides a contactless, smartphone-based vital signs monitoring service. The service uses patented transdermal optical imaging technology to analyze patients’ health indicators including heart rate, blood pressure and stress levels. LaFiya has integrated the service into its offerings, enabling access for patients in Nigeria.
African healthtech regains investment momentum with early-stage funding rounds
Kenyan telemedicine start-up Zuri Health raised $1.3 million in pre-seed funding from DOB Equity, Launch Africa and Founders Factory Africa. Zuri Health enables mobile-based virtual consultations, including through SMS, and has rapidly expanded to Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia since launching in 2021.
Bold, new partnerships are improving access to healthcare and health-related financing across Africa
Supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, our new market intelligence report features 80+ health start-ups that are digitizing the distribution of health products and improving access to essential medicines in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Uganda. Read the full report.
Governments are committing to digital health solutions to improve health outcomes
In Nigeria, medical supplies logistics start-up LifeBank has partnered with the Nasarawa State government to optimize the supply of medical oxygen to public health facilities, by digitizing demand and access trends. LifeBank will monitor oxygen usage and predict demand across the state using AirX, its forecasting and prediction tool. LifeBank will also ensure steady supply through an oxygen production plant it built in the state last year, ensuring end-to-end participation in the local medical oxygen supply chain. The partnership can reduce preventable deaths as inefficient and unreliable oxygen supply is a long-running problem in local health facilities.
Growing investment support and recognition for African women-led healthtech start-ups
Chefaa (Egypt), Zuri Health (Kenya), Emergency Response Africa (Nigeria) and Rahet Bally (Egypt) were selected among 14 women-founded companies for Venture Capital for Africa’s flagship Venture Showcase program which, this year, is focused on driving capital support to women-led African start-ups. As part of the cohort, the selected companies will receive investor readiness mentorship over the next two months before pitching to a curated group of investors.
Investing in Innovation launches inaugural cohort of African health supply chain start-ups
Investing in Innovation (i3), a pan-African support initiative for African health supply chain start-ups, launched its inaugural cohort with 30 promising start-ups selected from 14 countries. The selected start-ups will receive a $50,000 grant and targeted access to market support aimed at catalysing growth-driven partnerships with donors, industry and institutions.
Pre-seed raises, new products, new laws & new gov’t partnerships
Kenyan health start-up MYDAWA has launched a telehealth solution focused on HIV prevention to enable end-to-end virtual healthcare for customers seeking to access Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) medicines. The solution was developed with grant funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with the aim of providing patients with discreet digital access to HIV-related care amid prevalent stigma about the virus. The solution was developed in partnership with the University of Washington, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Fred Hutch Cancer Research Centre, Jhpiego and Audere.
#i3AccessToMarkets, innovators’ strong end to the year & telecoms-driven partnerships
The Investing in Innovation program hosted its first Access to Markets event in Lagos this month with the goal of enabling partnerships for the 31 African healthcare supply chain start-ups in the first cohort. The event featured 50+ institutional partners across government, industry and donors who held over 200 partnership-focused meetings with innovators during the three-day event.
Meet Africa’s women leaders in health supply chains
Through the year, our research and work was featured in 150+ news and feature story pieces across regional and global outlets including CNN, Al Jazeera, TechCrunch, Quartz Africa, Forbes Afrique, and CNBC Africa. In January, we published a discussion document, following rapid landscaping of telemedicine and digital counseling companies in East Africa, with a focus on Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. We examined trends and exciting opportunities in the region, with a summary of data from 26 companies.
