Investments are going more into the health sector as the world confronts more of the coronavirus pandemic. Cape Town based healthtech Ingress Healthcare is the latest healthcare startup to raise funding. The startup has raised R6-million ($317k) to help it to scale its platform that aims to distribute spare consulting rooms in hospitals and clinics to general practitioners and specialists.
“Majority of SA doctors work in state hospitals and clinics, the startup’s platform could help expand the market size of practitioners, allowing patients more choice and access to doctors. Practitioner and patients also have geographical freedom,” Jason McArthur, co-founder at Ingress said.
Here Is All You Need To Know
- The investment came from 11 investors under a group called Pegasus, which invested alongside Enso Equity, a Cape Town based investor founded by Anton Newbury.
- The startup has raised R11-million ($581k) in total from investors since its inception.
- The previous R5-million was made in January last year and came from Enso Capital and a local angel investor who is a property mogul. Each committed R2.5-million to the round, McArthur said.
- Using the funding, the startup plans to perfect all its systems before attempting to scale to “ensure great service delivery”.
- McArthur however said the startup plans to add practitioners from Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal “very soon”.
- The platform the startup plans to launch will allow patients to book a consultation with a medical professional.
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A Look At What Startup Ingress Does
Ingress Healthcare’s platform functions like a kind of Airbnb for those in the medical profession who are struggling to meet the high costs of setting up and running their own practice.
Instead of acquiring their own building and staff, the platform allows them to rent free space when it’s available in consulting rooms and hospitals. The platform also manages their administration and helps them to book clients.
Ingress Healthcare functions like a kind of Airbnb for those in medical profession providing them with spare consulting rooms
This could prove vital in tackling Covid-19, particularly at a time when many doctors and specialists have shut their consulting rooms.
The platform which went live in December last year, was founded in 2018 by three doctors, Jason McArthur, Noxolo Gqada and Nicolina Bardou.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer