Kenyan startup TIBU Health has acquired an unknown amount of pre-Series A investment to develop its chronic illness treatments and expand its virtual care platform.
The pre-Series A fundraising round was spearheaded by Health54, CFAO Group’s healthcare-focused corporate venture capital subsidiary, and was 50% oversubscribed. The funds will be utilised to develop its chronic illness solutions and to improve its virtual care platform.
Health54, the lead investor, uses the largest African healthcare network to help its investees scale business. Boost VC, helmed by fourth generation Silicon Valley venture capitalist Adam Draper, as well as Google and Founders Factory Africa, are among the other partners.
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“After having played a key role during the COVID-19 period, Tibu Health managed to quickly adapt, build and launch one of the most efficient solutions enabling people to quickly access quality healthcare. As their new strategic partner, we are committed to contribute to make them a leading healthcare delivery solution in east Africa,” said Côme Vercken, managing director of Health54.
TIBU Health’s B2B product has expanded consistently at 20% month on month since its beginning as a primarily B2C firm and is playing an increasing part in the company’s trajectory. The cash obtained by Health54’s investment will be critical in allowing the firm to focus on this expanding consumer category.
“We are extremely excited about the synergies that will be made from the partnership with Health54. Our interests are extremely aligned in using technology to address important access, quality and chronic disease challenges we currently see in Africa. CFAO’s existing footprint across more than 40 economies in Africa, as well as its many partnerships and subsidiaries will help us scale our model and amplify our impact,” said Carmichael.
A Look At What The Startup Does
TIBU Health, founded in 2018, is an omnichannel digital firm that provides health services where people live, work, and click. The firm uses the most modern health and logistics technology to give patients with a convenient and integrated end-to-end healthcare experience.
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The initial aim was on providing direct-to-consumer healthcare services at home. Patients and partners gradually increased their desire for virtual care and an in-person offering to supplement the home-based service that gave birth to TIBU. Since 2022, the firm has evolved into a corporation that crosses the physical and digital worlds to provide care to patients and business partners through three key access points: home, virtual, and ultramodern clinics.
“We’re particularly excited to develop our chronic disease programme and address the alarming rise in incidence of chronic disease in Africa. Proceeds of this round will be used to make some strategic investments in our virtual care platform and adding a few ultra modern wellness hubs to make healthcare even easier for Nairobians,” said Jason Carmichael, CEO of TIBU Health.
“It will also fuel the acceleration of our growth by expanding our corporate sales team to keep up with the rising demands from partners around various wellness programmes, including chronic conditions. People in Kenya will be seeing much more of us in the coming months,” he added.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard