Africa Health Ventures #11: Three New Funds Are Born
It's not every day a new fund is born, let alone three.
In a rare turn of events, in October we saw as many major announcements from healthcare funds as we did from healthcare startups in Africa. This is a good sign. Investors are waking up to the opportunity presented by healthcare in emerging markets.
Read on to learn about the 6 healthtech deals, 6 fund announcements, 8 upcoming events, and 11 opportunities this month.
If you are an accredited investor and want to put your capital to work powering a diversified portfolio of healthtech entrepreneurs, reply to this email to receive an overview of the Africa HealthTech Fund.
If you want to say hello, we will be at the Africa Tech Festival, Africa Early Stage Investing Summit, and SuperReturn Africa in the coming weeks.
If someone forwarded you this email, subscribe to get future editions every month in your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time, and we don’t share your email with anyone.
Funds
The Global Health Investment Corporation (GHIC), in partnership with the U.S. BARDA DRIVe, announced the launch of the Frontier Fund. This $20 million non-dilutive funding program supports early-stage translational research focused on developing novel medical countermeasures for global health security.
GHIC and KfW Development Bank announced the launch of the Catalytic Health Investment Platform (CHIP) with initial funding of up to €60 million. This initiative focuses on the needs of low- and middle-income countries by advancing research, investing in innovative solutions, and enhancing health system resilience.
Elaborating on her earlier commitment of 1B towards empowering women, Melinda French Gates through Pivotal Ventures has launched Action for Women’s Health, a new a $250 million global initiative. from Pivotal Ventures, founded by Melinda French Gates. Managed by Lever for Change, this open call invites organizations worldwide to apply for grants supporting equity-centered, scalable solutions to address health disparities affecting women.
AfricInvest and the Health Finance Coalition have successfully reached the final close of the Transform Health Fund (THF) at $111 million, surpassing their initial target. This pan-African blended-finance fund aims to strengthen healthcare systems by investing in locally-led health supply chains, care delivery, and digital solutions across the continent. Notable investments include Africa Healthcare Network, Lapaire Glasses, and Insta Products, all focused on providing affordable and accessible health services in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Janngo Capital, a pan-African venture capital firm, has announced the final closing of its second fund at $78 million, surpassing its initial target by 20%. The firm focuses on technology startups that enhance access to essential services and markets across Africa, with a notable emphasis on supporting women-led companies and essential goods and services such as healthcare.
EG Capital has secured CHF 1.5 million from the SDG Impact Finance Initiative (SIFI). EG Capital’s Economic Empowerment Fund will use this first-loss equity investment to provide private debt to medium-sized businesses in Eastern and Southern Africa, targeting sectors like health, nutrition, and climate adaptation.
Deals
👓 Lapaire, an African eyewear startup, has secured funding from AfricInvest and Proparco to expand its network into Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tanzania. This investment aims to enhance optical care access across Africa, addressing the significant need for vision correction services on the continent.
🩺 Ghanaian health and insurance startup BIMA has secured funding from AAIC Investment to accelerate its expansion. BIMA offers affordable health insurance and digital health services to underserved populations in emerging markets, operating in countries including Ghana, Tanzania, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Cambodia, with over six million active users.
👶 GOAL 3 has secured a $260,000 grant from Founders Pledge and its community to further validate the cost-effectiveness of its IMPALA patient monitoring system. Early pilot results in Malawi demonstrated a 42% reduction in pediatric mortality, suggesting that IMPALA could be a highly cost-effective intervention in low-resource healthcare settings.
📱La Ruche Health was awarded $100,000 through Grand Challenges Africa from the Science for Africa Foundation with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The funding will allow La Ruche to increase access to mental health services for youth.
💊 Zrosk Investment Management Limited, an African-focused investment firm, has acquired a 10% equity stake in MeCure Industries Plc, a leading Nigerian pharmaceutical company.
🩹 The EuroMena Funds has exited its investment in Biopharm, an Algerian pharmaceutical company, after acquiring a minority stake in December 2013. During the investment period, Biopharm transitioned from a distributor to a major producer.
News
The Africa Health Tech Summit took place Oct 29-31 in Kigali, alongside The HealthTech Hub Africa Investor Summit. The summit convened government, innovators, development partners, investors, and academia to explore how emerging technologies can enhance health systems and well-being.
You can view all the startups that participated in the HealthTech Hub Accelerator Program in 2024 here.
At the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) in Amsterdam, investing in healthcare was a hot topic. Philips Foundation celebrated 10 years of investing in healthcare for underserved communities around the world. Dalberg published an opinion piece reinforcing the investment opportunity for healthcare and health equity.
SOCAP in San Francisco is one of the world's largest gatherings for the impact ecosystem. The global SOCAP Fellowship was awarded to several promising healthtech innovators from Africa. This included:
The World Health Summit took place Oct 13-15 in Berlin. The question of global health funding dominated the agenda.
The new Microbial Interactions Laboratory was launched in South Africa at the University of Cape Town’s Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, or IDM. Infrastructure support came from national funding. Wellcome’s Centre for Infectious Diseases Research in Africa, and the Gates Foundation.
Events
Nov 12-14 in Cape Town: The Africa Tech Festival unites global technology and telecom leaders, entrepreneurs, and policymakers to drive digital transformation and innovation across Africa.
Nov 13-14 in London: The Digital Health World Congress focuses on digital healthcare innovations across sectors such as Health Tech, MedTech, mobile, IoT, and IT.
Nov 13-15 in Lagos: The Global Health Supply Chain Summit (GHSCS) brings together government, academia, NGOs, industry, donor agencies, and multilateral organizations to discuss innovations in global health supply chains.
Nov 13-17 in New Orleans: The annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene is an international forum for the exchange of scientific advances in tropical medicine, hygiene and global health.
Nov 19 in Cape Town: The Global Startup Awards Africa is a continent-wide competition that identifies and supports innovative startups across Africa.
Dec 3-6 in Cape Town: The 20th International Congress on Infectious Diseases (ICID) is a biennial event organized by the International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID).
Dec 1-3 in Nairobi: The Open Digital Health Summit is a three-day event focusing on the convergence of open standards, technologies, architectures, and content to accelerate digital health transformation.
Dec 4-6 in Nairobi: The Global Digital Health Forum (GDHF) is an annual event that brings together stakeholders from government, technology, and public health sectors to discuss advances in digital health in low- and middle-income countries.
Postponed: Africa CDC has decided to postpone the 4th International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA) due to the mpox outbreak.
Opportunities
Due Nov 8: Bloomberg is accepting applications for its its second annual "Africa Startups to Watch" list, aiming to highlight innovative companies addressing critical challenges across the continent. Startups must be founded by Africans, headquartered in Africa, and have raised between $1 million and $30 million.
Due 16 Nov: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has issued an invitation to bid for the development of a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) to be delivered in Arusha, Tanzania.
Due Nov 18: The USAID Africa Trade and Investment (ATI) Program has issued a Request for Applications (RFA) for private sector recoverable grants in East Africa. The program co-invests with private sector partners to enhance trade and investment within Africa, focusing on sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, technology, and climate. Grants typically range from $250,000 to $1,000,000.
Due Nov 21: The Aurora Tech Award for female entrepreneurs is an international competition that recognizes and supports women entrepreneurs in the tech industry, offering a total prize fund of $55K. The competition is open to women-led startups in various tech sectors.
Due Dec 1: The Llama 3.1 Impact Grants, offered by Meta, aim to support projects utilizing Llama models to address global challenges in areas such as education, healthcare, and environmental sustainability.
Due Dec 20, 2024: The Foundation for Innovative Diagnostics (FIND) has launched an Expression of Interest (EOI) titled "Advancing Research and Development for Women’s Health Diagnostics in the Global South: Call for Collaborators from Africa, South, and Southeast Asia." This initiative aims to expand their network of collaborators to develop diagnostics addressing the critical health needs of women and girls in the Global South.
Due Dec 31: The SwedBio Collaboration Grant typically provides small grants on the order of $50K USD to locally-driven, sustainable solutions addressing Food & Health among other topics
Due Dec 31: Gray Matters Capital's coLABS provides $50K to $250K in revenue-share investments to early stage social enterprises supporting women and girls globally.
Due Jan 10, 2025: As noted above, Pivotal Ventures has launched "Action for Women’s Health," a $250 million global initiative aimed at improving women's mental and physical health. This open call invites organizations worldwide to apply for grants supporting equity-centered, scalable solutions to address health disparities affecting women. Note: this call is only open to non-profits. If you are running a for-profit social enterprise promoting women’s health, use this opportunity to strengthen your non-profit partnerships.
Due Feb 18, 2025: The Wellcome Trust's Climate and Health Award funds transdisciplinary research teams in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to investigate the health effects of climate change mitigation interventions.
(Ongoing): The Public Health Institute is seeking a Digital Health Advisor to support digital health initiatives in low- and middle-income countries.
Africa Health Ventures at the Africa Tech Festival
If you are attending the Africa Tech Festival in Cape Town, come join us on Nov 13 for a panel discussion about HealthTech Innovation. We will be speaking with:
Joanne Peter, Director of the Innovation Hub at Jhpiego
Thato Schermer, Co-Founder of Zoie Health
Pippa Yeats, Co-Founder of Turn.io.
Thank you to eha Impact Ventures, eHealth Africa, and Womenovate for giving us this platform at the Africa Tech Festival.
Looking for more? What did we miss? Hit ‘reply’ to share any reactions, suggestions, deals, news, or opportunities to include in our next newsletter. You can also:
👍 Follow us on LinkedIn
🤝🏻 Invest with us
🪙 Nominate a startup for seed funding
🎙️ Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
We’ll be back in a month with our next roundup. See you then!