Remedial Health, a Nigerian startup that is disrupting the pharmaceutical industry by digitizing pharmacies and optimizing the value chain, successfully secured a substantial $12 million in Series A equity-debt funding. The primary goal of this investment is to accelerate the expansion of Remedial Health’s operations throughout Nigeria, with a particular focus on the West African region.
The funding round was co-led by Fintech VC firm QED Investors and Ventures Platform. Notably, QED Investors was motivated by the potential for embedded financial opportunities, such as payment and lending services, within the pharmaceutical sector. This marks QED’s third investment in Africa, following its involvement in successful deals with Moniepoint (formerly TeamApt) and Flapkap the previous year. Existing investors, including renowned entities like Y Combinator, Tencent, and Gaingels, also participated in the funding round. Their continued support indicates their confidence in Remedial Health’s vision, execution, and ability to address critical challenges in the pharmaceutical industry.
Why the Investors Invested
The decision of investors to commit a significant amount of $12 million to Remedial Health could be deduced below:
- Impressive Traction and Market Demand: Remedial Health’s rapid growth and substantial traction in the Nigerian market were primary factors that convinced investors of its potential. The startup’s ability to attract over 5,000 pharmacies and hospitals within a short period and its threefold increase in client count since November of the previous year demonstrated the strong demand for its platform. Investors recognized that Remedial Health’s ability to gain a considerable market share in a short time indicated a scalable and valuable business proposition.
- Addressing Critical Healthcare Challenges: The pharmaceutical industry in Nigeria faces severe challenges, such as the prevalence of counterfeit and substandard medicines, leading to preventable deaths. Remedial Health’s platform directly tackles these issues by sourcing pharmaceutical products from reliable manufacturers and verified distributors. By ensuring the availability of genuine and safe medications, the startup plays a crucial role in improving healthcare outcomes and saving lives in Nigeria and the broader African region.
- Strong Market Potential: The World Health Organization’s estimate that approximately 15% of medicine sold in Nigeria is fake or substandard highlights the urgent need for a reliable pharmaceutical distribution platform. Remedial Health’s commitment to addressing this problem and its ability to provide real-time market intelligence to manufacturers for better production and distribution strategies demonstrate a forward-thinking approach that positions the startup for significant long-term growth.
- Successful Business Model and Financial Performance: Remedial Health’s B2B model, coupled with its innovative inventory financing system that allows pharmacies to restock without upfront payments, has proven highly successful. This approach has enabled the startup to achieve an impressive sevenfold increase in revenues over the last ten months. Investors were convinced that this robust financial performance and sustainable business model bode well for the startup’s future growth and profitability.
A Look at Remedial Health
Remedial Health was founded in 2021 by Samuel Okwuada (CEO) and Victor Benjamin (COO). The startup’s core mission is to revolutionize the pharmaceutical sector in Nigeria by providing a technology-driven platform that connects pharmacies and hospitals with trusted manufacturers and distributors.
Read also : Marula Square Backs Zuri Health’s Vision with Strategic Investment
Remedial Health’s platform serves as a centralized source for pharmacies and hospitals to order pharmaceutical products from reliable manufacturers and verified distributors. By doing so, it addresses critical issues, including fluctuating prices and the distribution of counterfeit or substandard products, which have led to numerous preventable deaths in Nigeria and across Africa. The platform’s robust supply chain management ensures the proper handling of products, a significant improvement over the challenges posed by Nigeria’s open drugs market.
Operating primarily in Nigeria, Remedial Health has quickly gained prominence and currently serves over 5,000 pharmacies and hospitals. The startup’s impressive client count expansion, particularly in rural areas where demand is growing, highlights its potential for widespread impact on healthcare accessibility.
Read also : Startupbootcamp AfriTech Invites Applications for ASIP Accelerator Programme
Remedial Health sources over 8,000 pharmaceutical products from 300 reputable manufacturers, including industry giants like GSK, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca. The startup’s commitment to timely delivery, app-based inventory management tools, and financial reporting capabilities adds substantial value to its clients.
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