Africa Health Ventures #12: Healthtech's Many Friends
UNDP, Africa CDC, USAID, and others are pitching in for healthtech in Africa
The number of organizations backing healthtech in Africa is growing. Africa CDC launched the Africa HealthTech Marketplace; USAID dug deep into 87 incubators and accelerators supporting healthcare in Africa; and UNDP’s Timbuktoo launched their HealthTech Bootcamp in Rwanda. Read on to learn about the growing fanbase of healthtech in Africa.
If you’re a seed-stage healthtech startup in Africa, apply for funding here. If you’re interested in investing in healthtech in Africa, get in touch with us at Africa Health Ventures.
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.
Deals
Cameroonian startup VerZ has secured investment from Fuzé by Digital Africa, a subsidiary of France’s Proparco, to enhance access to essential medicines across Africa. Founded in 2023 by Franck Verzefé, VerZ partners with pharmacies to offer patients deferred payment options for medications, utilizing community savings systems and micro-loans to address affordability challenges.
The GSMA Innovation Fund for Humanitarian Challenges awarded grants ranging from 100K to 250K EUR to nine winners, including two healthtech companies:
Drop Access is a Kenyan company that develops cold chain solutions such as the portable solar-powered "VacciBox" for vaccine delivery
Helium Health is a Nigerian healthtech company that provides digital solutions—including electronic medical records and hospital management systems—to streamline healthcare delivery across Africa
Amenli, an Egyptian insurtech company, has secured a $2.3 million funding round led by EBRD alongside follow-on support from Y Combinator. The investment aims to enhance Amenli's technological capabilities, diversify distribution channels, and digitize the customer experience to increase insurance penetration - including medical insurance - in Egypt.
In Senegal, Proparco is partnering with Admaius Capital Partners to support Saint Christopher Iba Mar Diop Medical School through the FISEA+ facility. Established in Dakar in 2003, Saint Christopher has grown into one of the largest private medical training institutions in Francophone Africa, with over 2,000 students currently enrolled in medicine, pharmacy, and dentistry programs.
LeapFrog Investments has closed its fourth fund with commitments and designated co-investments totaling $1.02 billion, surpassing its initial target of $1 billion. The fund aims to accelerate high-impact healthcare and financial services companies in global growth markets, with over 50% of capital coming from Asia, including first-time investors from Japan, Singapore, and China.
News
Africa CDC launched the new Africa HealthTech Marketplace in partnership with the Digital Impact Exchange. This digital platform is designed to provide accessible health solutions tailored to the diverse technological needs of African Union member states.
The Timbuktoo HealthTech Bootcamp in Kigali is an initiative by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Timbuktoo Africa Innovation Foundation to support early-stage African startups developing innovative health technologies. The program offers comprehensive support, including mentorship, equity-free funding of up to 100K USD, and access to state-of-the-art resources. 40 startups from across Africa have been selected to participate in the bootcamp, including Mobihealth, Clinify, Checkit, and BetaLife Health.
J&J Impact Ventures in partnership with Villgro Africa has launched an incubation program for women-led healthcare startups to address the gender disparity in funding for women-led healthcare startups in Africa.
MDaaS has launched a new center in Cameroon. MDaaS is a Nigerian healthtech company that builds and operates 16 modern, tech-enabled diagnostic centers.
Vantage Health Technologies, part of South Africa's BroadReach Group, is introducing its AI-driven solutions to the U.S. to improve access to quality cancer care
The SA Startup Awards took place on November 26 in South Africa. The winner of the healthtech SA startup of the year was Strove, the integrated wellbeing and engagement platform for the modern workforce.
Fifteen winners have been named at the African leg of the Global Startup Awards, advancing to the global finals. Winners include Nigeria’s pharmaceutical supply chain startup PharmaRun.
Unlocking Africa's Health Innovation Potential: Navigating the Investment Readiness Landscape: USAID surveyed 87 accelerators, incubators, venture studios, and other investment-readiness programs across Africa active in fostering healthcare companies. This is a valuable reference for any healthtech founder or ecosystem builder looking for support to build more investable startups.
The Impact Investment Initiative for Global Health (Triple I for GH) released its midterm report highlighting the current landscape and major activities. Triple I is a G7-endorsed program to mobilize private capital through impact investments, aiming to address global health challenges, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
The Stanford Center for Biodesign released an ecosystem overview of HealthTech in East Africa, including a deep dive on Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania.
At Afrotech, Marlon Nichols of MaC Venture Capital discussed the importance of relationships in African markets, highlighting the significant opportunities for innovation in healthtech. MaC raised a $150 million Fund III and has invested more than $20 million into at least 10 African companies, including Antara Health.
Kenya launched the Social Health Insurance Fund last month, replacing the National Health Insurance Fund which had been in place for over 50 years. This has sparked many challenges and concerns.
Devex published a synthesis of how blended finance is emerging as a strategy to mobilize funding for health care, highlight challenges, successes, and opportunities.
Events
Dec 1-3 in Nairobi: The Open Digital Health Summit focuses on the convergence of open standards, technologies, architectures, and content to accelerate digital health transformation.
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 4-5 in Barcelona: Health Tech Forward is Europe’s premier event for health tech innovation and investment
Dec 4-6 in Nairobi: The Global Digital Health Forum (GDHF) brings together stakeholders from government, technology, and public health to discuss advances in digital health in low- and middle-income countries.
Jan 13-16, 2025, in San Francisco: The J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference will host a panel on healthcare in emerging markets with the support of the Bay Area Global Health Alliance.
Opportunities
Due Dec 5: Wellcome's Mental Health Award is a research grant to evaluate and develop digital interventions for depression, anxiety, and psychosis. Funding ranges from £3 to £7 million per project.
Due Dec 13: WiNFUND invites female health innovators across Africa to apply for support in scaling ventures that improve healthcare access and address climate-related impacts.
Due Dec 20: 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. 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: develoPPP Ventures Funding Programme provides non-dilutive capital of 100K EUR to innovative start-ups in developing and emerging countries, requiring matching funds and aiming to scale sustainable business models.
Due Dec 31: The AmplifyChange Partnership Grant supports civil society organizations working on sexual and reproductive health and rights, offering funding up to GBP 900,000 over three years.
Due Dec 31: Growth4Her Accelerator Programme: Targeted at women-led SMEs in Nigeria and Cameroon, this program offers capacity building, market access, and funding opportunities to transition businesses to high-growth stages.
Due Dec 31: The SwedBio Collaboration Grant provides small grants on the order of 50K USD to locally-driven, sustainable solutions addressing Food & Health among other topics
Due Jan 10, 2025: 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 nonprofit organizations worldwide to apply for grants supporting equity-centered, scalable solutions to address health disparities affecting women.
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: KPMG Female Founders in Africa Competition: This competition seeks ambitious, high-growth ventures led by women, providing support, resources, and networking opportunities.
Ongoing: The Draper Richards Kaplan (DRK) Foundation offers funding for early-stage social enterprises addressing critical social or environmental issues. They provide up to $300,000 in unrestricted capital over three years, along with operational and technical support including board participation.
InstaDeep: The African Exit
In case you missed it, last week we released our podcast interview with the founder of InstaDeep. InstaDeep sold for half a billion euro to the pharmaceutical company BioNTech, making it the largest acquisition of a startup on the African continent last year.
Karim believes Biology AI today is where LLMs were in 2020. We are at the dawn of the golden age of biology AI and related biotech innovations. In this context, African founders building upon Africa’s genomic diversity have an unparalleled opportunity to build the biotech data assets of the future.
🎙️Catch the full interview wherever you get your podcasts.
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.
This is the last of our monthly newsletters for 2024. What a year it’s been! We launched our venture capital fund, we made our first 6 investments, and we’re just getting started.
Stay tuned in 2025 for our annual State of HealthTech in Africa report. Until then, happy holidays everyone!