VitruvianMD, a South African medical technology startup, has successfully secured a funding round known as Seed Extension II, raising a substantial $1.25 million or R23 million. The lead investor in this funding round is the social impact venture capital (VC) fund, The Nebula Fund, operated by 27four. This injection of capital is poised to play a pivotal role in propelling VitruvianMD’s growth trajectory.
The company intends to utilize the secured funds to further amplify its expansion efforts. The key areas of focus for this utilization include augmenting their workforce, obtaining international regulatory approvals, and steering growth into novel applications of their advanced technology.
The Motivation Behind the Investment
The investment made by The Nebula Fund into VitruvianMD stems from a strategic alignment of innovation, scalability, and social impact. The fund is particularly drawn to the groundbreaking nature of VitruvianMD’s technology, which aligns with its investment principles. The scalability and revenue generation potential of the startup’s solutions are clear indicators of its investment attractiveness. Additionally, the technology’s immediate positive impact on the healthcare landscape of South Africa and the broader African continent aligns with The Nebula Fund’s social impact ethos.
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The decision to invest is also rooted in the pressing need for accessible diagnostics and medical expertise. The shortage of diagnosticians in regions like Sub-Saharan Africa highlights a real and urgent challenge that VitruvianMD aims to address. The application of AI-driven diagnostics not only enhances the efficiency and accuracy of medical analyses but also holds the potential to bridge significant healthcare disparities. This blend of technological innovation, scalable solutions, and direct societal impact underscores the rationale behind The Nebula Fund’s investment.
The Nebula Fund, operated by 27four, is a social impact venture capital (VC) fund with a mission to support high-growth startups that leverage technology and innovation to address societal challenges. Launched in May 2023, the fund has quickly gained momentum, marked by its investment in VitruvianMD, a South African medtech startup. The Nebula Fund’s investment philosophy centers on backing companies with strong fundamentals, disruptive capabilities, and a potential for quick scalability into large markets. It focuses on ventures that possess exclusive intellectual property and offer business-to-business solutions.
The fund’s approach is deeply rooted in creating positive social impact, as evident from its criteria that emphasize ventures making a measurable difference in society. It prioritizes companies that generate revenue and have an existing proof-of-concept in the market. While the Nebula Fund’s initial investments are in the healthcare sector, it maintains a sector-agnostic approach, open to ventures from various industries as long as they meet the stringent investment and social impact criteria.
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Leading the Nebula Fund is Tishanya Naidoo, Venture Capital Principal at 27four Investment Managers, who brings a wealth of experience, having previously led the early-stage fund at the Public Investment Corporation. The fund is supported by the broader 27four private markets team and the 27four group. The Nebula Fund’s vision aligns with its namesake, aiming to be a guiding light for impactful startups that bring about positive change and improve lives through innovative solutions.
“The 27four Nebula Fund has been carefully developed to back high growth companies with strong fundamentals,” says Naidoo. “Our well-defined investment criteria focus on ventures that possess disruptive capabilities, business-to-business offerings, exclusive intellectual property, quick scalability into large markets, strong founding teams with sector-specific technical knowledge and financial capabilities, as well as a significant and measurable positive social impact. Our screening criteria identify startups that are typically raising Series A rounds. We essentially consider any opportunities that are revenue generating and have an existing proof-of-concept in the market to be what we think of as Series A,” Naidoo adds. “While our initial investments are in healthcare, we are looking to fully diversify and will investigate small and medium enterprises that have strong disruptive tech offerings that change people’s lives for the better,” says Naidoo.
A Closer Look at VitruvianMD
VitruvianMD, founded in 2020 by Frando Lin and Ifthakaar Shaik as a medical technology startup, has emerged as a promising player in the field. The company was established with a mission to revolutionize accessibility to diagnostic procedures through a fusion of biomedical engineering and AI. Its founding team has channelled their expertise and vision into pioneering solutions that can address critical healthcare challenges.
The company’s primary markets are centered in Sub-Saharan Africa, where it is working to counter the acute diagnostician shortage. The startup’s technology holds potential for transformative impact in regions with limited access to medical expertise. VitruvianMD’s solutions enable laboratories to transition to digital pathology seamlessly, enabling collaborative diagnostics irrespective of geographical distances.
One of the standout features of VitruvianMD’s technology is its application of AI in various medical domains. For instance, it is making significant strides in haematology, enhancing the differentiation of white blood cells. In histopathology, it expedites and refines cervical cancer screenings. Moreover, the company has innovated in the fertility realm, developing an AI-driven tool to assess sperm quality, a pioneering feat that aids in assisted reproduction procedures.
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Central to the innovation is a versatile camera that can be affixed to any microscope, coupled with sophisticated AI tools. This amalgamation facilitates seamless transition into a digital pathology framework for laboratories. This digital transformation is further enriched by intuitive software, enabling unprecedented collaboration among medical professionals regardless of geographical constraints. Furthermore, this approach mitigates the potential for diagnostic delays that could have life-threatening consequences. The AI platform embedded within VitruvianMD’s technology empowers medical practitioners of varying expertise levels to enhance accuracy and efficiency in analyzing samples. This technology has already demonstrated remarkable impact in fields such as haematology, histopathology, and fertility assessment.
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