Africa Health Ventures #6: Homecare, Nigeria's Medicine Vendors, and a New Accelerator
Your rundown of what's going on with health ventures in Africa
The Africa Health Ventures newsletter is your go-to resource to find out what’s happening with healthcare startups in Africa.
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Deals & News
Bena Care received a 75K investment from Village Capital due to its innovative approach to home healthcare. This approach reduces the burden on overcharged health systems, provides tailored cost-effective care for non-emergency medical conditions, and gives long-term patients options to live a life of their choosing.
InCurA in Egypt raised a pre-seed funding round to expand its operations of an undisclosed amount. The round included various regional investors such as Tiye Angels and Kaust Innovation Ventures. The company develops biomedical health technology for bleeding control products.
Revna Biosciences in Ghana has secured grant funding from the develoPPP Ventures program. Revna is a biotech startup that offers advanced molecular diagnostics tests locally, supports clinical trials, and offers biobanking. DeveloPPP provides matching grants to startups of up to €100,000.
Tibu Health raised just over 50K through the crowdfunding platform Republic to support the scale of its healthcare services across Kenya, aiming to establish 134 Minute Clinics and expand its corporate membership model. Tibu Health is a “brick-and-click” startup pairing physical and virtual healthcare delivery.
Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures, a pan-African venture capital firm, has successfully closed its first fund at $60 million. The fund aims to invest in 21 growth-stage companies across Africa, focusing on sectors such as healthcare, mobility, and fintech, with investment amounts ranging from $1 million to $3 million per company.
TLcom Capital has successfully closed its second fund, TIDE Africa Fund II, at $154 million, aiming to invest in early-stage startups across Africa. This fund, supported by investors like the European Investment Bank and Visa Foundation, will be looking at sectors such as healthcare, fintech, and education. It targets seed and Series A investments.
Rivia, a Ghanaian e-health startup, has acquired Waffle, a local SaaS company that specializes in hospital and inventory management software. This acquisition allows Rivia to enhance the operational capabilities of primary care clinics, with the integration of Waffle’s technologies into Rivia's existing healthcare-as-a-service platform, RiviaOS.
Remedial Health in Nigeria has launched a new app for neighborhood pharmacies. This app functions as an integrated operating system, providing features such as a digital POS terminal, virtual business accounts, a barcode scanner for inventory management, and financial reporting. It targets Nigeria’s neighborhood pharmacies and PPMVs. A PPMV is a person without formal training in pharmacy who sells orthodox pharmaceutical products on a retail basis for profit. They are permitted by law to sell a limited number of pre-packaged, over-the-counter medicines.
Samuel Okwuada, the founder of Remedial Health, was previously a guest on our podcast. Tune in to hear the founding story of Remedial Health and Samuel’s plan to reach the bottom of the pyramid by addressing the unique needs of PPMVs.
Events
May 16-17 in Kigali, Rwanda: the Africa CEO Forum convenes 2,000 CEOs, investors, business leaders and heads of state
May 21 in London: AfricaArena will be hosting a 1-day London summit to showcase Africa’s startups to British investors.
May 22-25 in Paris: VivaTech is Europe’s biggest startup and tech event showcasing startups from around the world to European and other investors.
May 29-31 in Oslo: Katapult Future Fest is a gathering of impact investors, tech entrepreneurs, and purpose-driven changemakers.
May 29-31 in Marrakech, Morocco: GITEX Africa is a major African conference showcasing high-tech startups from the continent.
June 5-6 in Munich: health.tech is a high-profile global healthtech conference. While it does not have a specific focus on Africa, it does convene global industry leaders across health, wellness, insurance, and more. This is a useful networking opportunity for African companies looking to expand to international markets.
June 5-8 in Utah: Sorenson Impact from the Sorenson Impact Institute at the University of Utah convenes impact investors active on a variety of issues.
June 7 in London: Africa Tech Summit London connects tech leaders from the African ecosystem and international players under one roof at the London Stock Exchange.
June 13 virtually: The Global Digital Development Forum (GDDF) co-organized by USAID and others convenes international development professionals across multiple sectors (including health) exploring how innovation and new technologies can improve aid delivery.
Opportunities for Startups
Due May 10: Villgro Africa is currently accepting applicants for its Transforming African MedTech Conference and the Villgro Africa Medtech Incubation Program.
EOI Due May 10: For healthtech companies with strong immunisation capabilities, GAVI is seeking data analytics for immunisation programs in 39 GAVI-supported African countries.
EOI Due May 10: For healthtech orgs in Ethiopia, GAVI is seeking technical assistance to support the Ethiopian immunisation program.
Due May 14: The Home Grown Solutions (HGS) for Pandemic Resilience Accelerator is seeking applicants for its fourth cohort. The accelerator provides hands-on support to growth-stage and mature healthcare businesses looking to scale their work in Africa. This is an initiative of AUDA-NEPAD, the African Union Development Agency’s New Partnership for Africa’s Development.
Due May 15: Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize: Awards three leaders in biotech, activism, climate, or media with a $50,000 unrestricted grant and Tällberg network membership for global positive change efforts.
Due May 16: Flat6Labs and Organon have launched the second cycle of their Women's Health Accelerator Programme, aimed at empowering digital health startups focusing on women's health across the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey. The program targets three key areas: family planning, fertility, and wellness, aiming to tackle specific health challenges women face in these regions.
Due May 20: The Google for Startups Accelerator Africa program supports growth-stage startups that utilize advanced technologies like AI or data analytics to address significant challenges, offering tailored mentorship from Google and industry experts to tackle each startup's top challenges.
Due May 21: The Data Governance in Africa Initiative Call for Proposals includes two streams, one for social enterprises and one for non-profits. A collaboration between the African Union, the European Union, and development agencies, seeks projects that address a few key themes including e-health and epidemics. The program offers grants to non-profits, as well as tailored training programs, personalized mentoring, and connections with international partners and potential investors.
Due May 26: Orange Social Venture Prize in Africa and the Middle East: Recognizes start-ups for social and environmental impact, offering €25,000, €15,000, and €10,000 prizes, plus a €20,000 International Women’s Prize and business development support.
Due May 31st: If you run a startup in South Africa, the SA Future Trust Awards offers R500K cash and support to tech, innovation, female and social entrepreneurs.
June 19 Deadline to Register: Grand Challenges for Mental Health is designed to fund innovative approaches to youth mental health and well-being across 12 countries. The program focuses on early prevention and promotion strategies, targeting underserved youth aged 10 to 24, with a strong emphasis on involving youth-led organizations from the specified countries in the implementation of these projects.
Due June 30: AWS Health Equity Initiative offers healthcare startups and nonprofits in Africa AWS promotional credits and technical support. Savannah Global Health Institute in Kenya was an early recipient of this support.
Due June 30: The Nutriset Research Grant will award 10,000 Euro grants for the nutritional care of adult patients with/or at risk of disease-related malnutrition. Applicants must be a health professional and preference will be given to projects in Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Madagascar, and Ethiopia.
Ongoing: Pishon Health has launched an incubator program aimed at empowering African healthtech innovators. This 12-week initiative provides training, mentorship, and potential funding to help participants transform their healthcare ideas into sustainable businesses. The program provides support worth up to $100,000, emphasizing practical skills development and business model refinement.
Ongoing: Renew Venture Lab applications are open for ventures in Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Sudan and Mozambique. Participants gain mentorship from an experienced investment team and access to a network of partners and investors. Selected startups receive funding ranging from $50K to $300K.
Ongoing: The Catalyst Fund by the Roddenberry Foundation provides grants ranging from $2,500 to $15,000 for individuals or groups globally, supporting early-stage ideas and projects aimed at addressing global challenges.
Ongoing: RIGHT Foundation’s Product Development Award general call seeks proposals aimed at developing vaccines, therapeutics, biologics, or diagnostic platforms to alleviate infectious diseases or non-communicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Deadline is 31 December 2024 and maximum funding is KRW 4B (approximately 3M USD).
Ongoing: Fund for Innovation in Development Grant Program. The Fund for Innovation in Development (FID) is inviting innovators and researchers from around the world to apply for grant funding to more effectively or efficiently address poverty.
AI for Health: A Podcast Series
We are releasing a 3-part podcast series exploring what AI means for healthcare organizations in Africa. We cover groundbreaking new innovations; the serious risks AI poses to healthcare and humanity; and, most importantly, tips and strategies for what to do about it. We will hear directly from the perspective of funders, donors, startups, nonprofits, and multinationals. This mini-series is powered by Reach Digital Health.
Part 1: AI for Health - The Promise and Perils is a conversation between the World Health Organization, IDInsight, and Reach Digital Health. It was recorded live during my recent visit to the Skoll World Forum in Oxford, UK.
Subscribe wherever you get your podcast to get Part 2 (The Big Picture) and Part 3 (Under The Hood) when they drop.
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