e-Health - Afrikan Heroes

South African e-health Startup Healthcent Raises Funding Round for Expansion

August 1, 2019

South African e-health startup Healthcent has secured funding from Umkhathi Wethu Ventures and Allan Gray in order to further roll out its products to medical practitioners.

Here Is The Deal

Founded three years ago and angel-funded until now, Healthcent is the company behind the mobile messaging system Signapps, which facilitates collaboration and rapid response to patient needs by medical providers.
A mobile-first, cloud-based messaging and collaboration platform, Signapps is already being used by 30 customers comprising public and private hospitals and hospital groups, practices, associations, and funders of care. There are over 2,000 users registered on the platform.
Healthcent has now raised an undisclosed round of funding from Umkhathi Wethu Ventures, in partnership with Allan Gray, to expand its reach into the wider South African healthcare sector and further develop the capabilities of the product.

“Collaborative healthcare delivery is a new buzzword internationally, and the investment by Umkhathi Wethu, together with Allan Gray, is a vote of confidence in our vision for Signapps and traction of the Signapps product in South Africa,” said Andrew Davies, chief executive officer (CEO) of Healthcent.

“Our purpose is to transform how patients are cared for in South Africa. Our objective with Signapps is to be the simplest, most effective, care coordination platform for people and organisations in the healthcare ecosystem, and to ensure that the patient remains firmly at the centre of the treatment universe.”

Rob Dower, director of Allan Gray, said his company’s internal ventures team was looking to fund the development of new businesses that can make a significant difference to society.

“Healthcent is the first company in South Africa to offer a secure mobile messaging application designed specifically for the healthcare sector. This allows medical professionals to avoid the inaccuracies, delays and risks of paper-based record systems, without resorting to social networks to coordinate care, which are inappropriate for many reasons,” he said.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.

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Nigerian e-health startup 54gene Raises $4.5m To Build Africa’s First DNA Biobank

July 3, 2019

This year has not been particularly bad for health startups in Africa. The latest on the list of newly funded startups in Africa is the Nigerian six-month-old e-health and genomics startup 54gene which has raised a US$4.5 million in a seed round of investment to allow it to build the first African DNA biobank.

A Look At The Funding

This round of funding, totaling US$4.5 million came from Y Combinator, Fifty Years, Better Ventures, KdT Ventures, Hack VC and Techammer, among others.
The startup plans to use the funds to pioneer and build the world’s first African DNA biobank, install electronic data capture systems in the leading tertiary hospitals in Nigeria, and expand its teams in Nigeria and the United States (US).
It is also planning expansion elsewhere in Africa.
54gene is a product of Stack Dx, which raised funding from early-stage VC firm Micro traction to develop the platform in January.
Since then, the startup has been selected to take part in the Y Combinator and Google Launchpad Africa accelerator programs, and it has now raised a sizeable seed round.

“The genomic revolution has taken place everywhere except for Africa; home to more than one billion people, and the very birthplace of humankind. What many people don’t realise is how genetically diverse Africa is, and that Africans have married within their tribes for thousands of years, which makes our DNA ideal for studying loss-of-function type mutations that can be replicated into new drugs. We believe this will be done through partnering with pharmaceutical industry players to drive groundbreaking research and layering a data science capability on the data being collected,” said Abasi Ene-Obong, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of 54gene.

54gene Is Set to Build The Largest Database of Genomic and Phenotypic Consented Data of Africans.

54gene’s unique data sets will be used exclusively for research; to proactively address the significant gap the genomics market currently poses for Africa, using African DNA to focus on drug discovery opportunities that will improve access.
The startup has successfully completed pilot programs in three of Nigeria’s largest academic tertiary hospitals and is strategically expanding its biobanking activities to 10 of the country’s academic tertiary hospitals.
The biobank’s focus has also expanded from oncology to include cardiology, neurology, endocrinology and sickle cell disease.
54gene expects to secure 40,000 biobank samples by the end of this year and is working closely with research institutions on the continent, pharmaceutical companies, technology partners and healthcare regulators, to achieve this.
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World Economic Forum

“This capital infusion allows us to move swiftly. We are delighted to welcome like-minded, highly experienced investors, who will embark on this journey with us, to secure Africa’s pharma future and to impact millions of people’s lives through improved healthcare and drugs provision. We are committed to curating one of the most interesting genomic and phenotypic datasets in the world that will power the development of new drugs that benefit people of all races,” Ene-Obong said.

Seth Bannon, a founding partner at Fifty Years, said it was a “dirty secret” that the world’s genomic datasets were overwhelmingly Caucasian.

“By building datasets that are more inclusive, 54Gene will help democratise molecular medicine while unlocking insights that will lead to better therapeutics for everyone,” he said.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

South Africa: e-health Startup SmartBlade Raises $635k

June 10, 2019

E-health startup, SmartBlade has raised a ZAR9.5 million (US$635,000) funding round from the Savant Venture Fund to take its solution to market.

What SmartBlade is All About

SmartBlade is a video laryngoscope that uses a smartphone as a camera and communications device.

Once SmartBlade app is loaded onto the smartphone, it will allow the user to access the camera in the laryngoscope, which in turn allows for video viewing, storage, and transmission. In other words, the app will help users to see videos of their larynxes.

A laryngoscope is an instrument for examining the larynx, or for inserting a tube through it.

The company has been incubated at the Cape Town-based hardware incubator Savant over the past few years and has now become the first recipient of investment from the Savant Venture Fund, launched after the incubator itself raised funds, from the South African SME Fund.

SmartBlade will use the investment, which comes in the form of a convertible note, to take its innovation to market and deliver on the global interest and demand it says it has seen for the device.

“Following the successful launch of the video laryngoscope, the company will look to utilise its smartphone endoscopy expertise to bring associated medical devices to market,” Savant venture fund manager Nick Allen said.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

Kenyan e-Health Startup Raises $3m For Expansion

May 8, 2019

An e-health Startup in Kenya, MYDAWA,founded in 2017, which enables consumers to conveniently purchase authentic high-quality medicines, health and wellness products through partnerships with healthcare practitioners and suppliers has raised US$3 million in funding from the Africa HealthCare Master Fund for accelerating a planned expansion into the Kenyan market. The startup has over 80,000 registered users.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

With this, the startup has now completed its first round of external funding from the Africa HealthCare Master Fund, also established in 2017 and which is an investor in healthcare and related sectors across the continent.

The US$3 million round is expected to assist MYDAWA in expanding across Kenya, and further advancing its vision of providing access to affordable, genuine and high-quality medicine and healthcare products.

MYDAWA users are assured of genuine medicines and products as the application has secured the entire supply chain by getting medicines and other products directly from manufacturers and branded drugs that are made by World Health Organisation (WHO) approved centers, tackling the counterfeit issue in the market.

Also See: Ghanaian Startup mPharma Acquires Kenyan Second Largest Pharmacy Chain

A unique track and trace mechanism have also been put in place to allow users to authenticate products through the app with a QR code or SMS to verify its source and genuineness. All products and medicines are secured with tamper-proof seals that contain the scratch to reveal authentication code.

Kenya is seen as a leader in innovation, and with solutions such as MYDAWA, the future of healthcare in Kenya and Africa is set for transformation where access to affordable and safe healthcare products will be experienced by all, MYDAWA managing director Tony Wood.

The startup has also partnered with a number of Insurance companies to ensure that medical policy holders also benefit from the solution, giving longevity to their insurance cover since prescription medicines are on average 20 per cent cheaper. Insurance companies are also beneficiaries as there are less fraudulent and illegitimate claims.

“ It was very important that a new partner shared this goal which is inspired by the Kenyan aim of improving access to healthcare for all. I am delighted to add the Africa HealthCare Fund to the team which brings expertise and international reach as well as funds,” said Neil O’Leary founder and chairman of MYDAWA.

Africa HealthCare Master Fund director Susumu Tsubaki said it was commendable that startups such as MYDAWA were leveraging on the power of new technologies to disrupt the healthcare industry to tackle the region’s challenges of access, quality and affordability of healthcare.

“Our mission has always been to support healthcare related initiatives in Africa to help them accelerate their operations towards a healthy continent,” he said.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organisations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.