Kenya’s leading health tech startup, Ilara Health has raised $3.75-million in a Series A funding round for the expansion of its operations across the country and other African countries. The funding was led by TLcom Capital with contributions from DOB Equity, Global Ventures, and Chandaria Capital. The funding will be used to expand the startup’s diagnostic reach across Africa and the development of its innovative integrated patient health management platform. According to the CEO Emilian Popa, funding is critical for the startup’s planned expansion efforts which are aimed at providing inclusive healthcare to everyone.
Ilara Health CEO Emilian Popa
“This funding round allows us to significantly grow our on-the-ground presence and invest resources into our technology capabilities. In just one year of operation, we have seen the incredible impact our Ilara Health platform has had in delivering improved services across maternal, metabolic, cardiovascular, and infectious disease care.”
The health tech startup was founded in 2018 with the objective of providing essential, affordable, and life-saving diagnostics to African consumers. By providing existing primary health care facilities in rural and urban areas of Kenya with next-generation point of care diagnostic tools, the startup contributes to providing critical healthcare and bridging a gap in diagnostic health care technology. Diagnostics are critical to clinical decision making, determining how to treat a patient, and deciphering what they may be suffering from. In many peri-urban and rural areas across Africa, diagnostic services are non-existent. In many cases, patients are ill-diagnosed and not treated properly due to the lack of laboratory-based diagnostic services and tools.
The health tech startup provides access to life-saving tests and screenings that assist local medical providers to improve the quality of their healthcare service. Using technological advancements, Ilara Health is able to generate data from the diagnostics tests to create a ‘closed-loop patient management system’ and provide analytical insight into dominant local diseases across underserved communities. Popa adds that the funding will be used in alignment with the startup’s overall objective of providing much-needed medical diagnostics to underserved communities. “We view this as only the beginning, widening our disease indication coverage and creating end-to-end value throughout the entire care delivery process. In the coming months, we will continue working to reach patients who currently struggle to access basic lifesaving tests and on developing data-driven insights for better quality care across the continent.”
The healthtech startup has reportedly partnered with over 200 clinical facilities in outlying areas of Nairobi and Kisumu and plans to expand across wider Kenya and a new East African market within the next 12 months.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
Barely 2 months after receiving $1.1m in grant funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, one of Africa’s most active investors, TLcom Capital has finally found faith in an African healthtech startup through Ilara Health, the Kenyan-based healthtech startup focused on bringing essential, affordable and life-saving diagnostics to African consumers. The startup has announced it has secured $3.75 million in Series A funding to enable it expand its diagnostic reach across Africa and to accelerate the development of its integrated patient health management platform.
Emilian Popa, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) at Ilara Health
“This funding round allows us to significantly grow our on-the-ground presence and invest resources into our technology capabilities. In just one year of operation, we have seen the incredible impact our Ilara Health platform has had in delivering improved services across maternal, metabolic, cardiovascular and infectious disease care,” said Emilian Popa, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) at Ilara Health.
Here Is What You Need To Know
The investment was made by TLcom Capital, with participation from DOB Equity, Global Ventures and Chandaria Capital
The startup will use the funding to grow its on-the-ground presence and invest resources into its technology capabilities.
In 2019, Ilara Health raised $735k from ShakaVC, Chandaria Capital, and Villgro Kenya, with the round also including angel investors such as Esther Dyson, Nijhad Jamal, Aadil Mamujee, Selma Ribica, and Shakir Merali.
“In the coming months, we will continue working to reach patients who currently struggle to access basic lifesaving tests and on developing data-driven insights for better quality care across the continent,” Popa said.
Why The Investors Invested
This is TLcom’s first investment in any African early-stage healthtech startup. The VC has previously been investing mostly in fintech startups, some of its notable investments being those in Andela, Okra, Twiga Foods, uLesson, among others. Investment in Ilara Health is therefore a welcome development for the healthtech space in Africa, although a lot of seed investments are yet to be recorded in that space, compared to other sectors. Ido Sum, Partner at TLcom said TLcom has been monitoring the underserved health space in Africa for quite some time. Sum said since health is one of the areas on which African consumers spend the most, the quality of health outcomes needs to improve.
“The challenge of bringing affordable and high-quality diagnostics to the actual points of care is yet to be solved. We are excited about what Ilara Health was able to build in such a short time, and more so about their wider vision of combining world class technologies, financing and their own tech layer to bring true value to medical professionals and patients at the clinics visited by the majority of the population,” said Sum.
He further noted that Ilara Health very much represents the companies they like to partner with the most: solving a true, and large African problem, using tech to achieve scale, and bringing clear and very tangible value to its clients.
In February this year, TLcom announced the closing of its Tide Africa Fund at $71 million with plans to make up to 12 startup investments over the next 18 months. So far, out of that fund, TLcom has invested in Nigerian fintech startup Okra ($1m) and in car listing venture AutoChek ($3.4m).
DOB Equity’s investment in Ilara Health did not come as a surprise. Based (and actively investing) in the East African countries of Kenya and Tanzania, and in the Netherlands, the VC has specifically been investing in East African entrepreneurs trying to mitigate potential risks related to environmental, social and governance matters, whilst creating value and social impact for the company and its communities. It has previously invested in the Kenyan logistics startup Sendy; off-grid startup M-KOPA; ecommerce platform Copia Kenya and in a host of other agritech startups such as Twiga Foods, Countryside Diaries, Cropnuts, among other investments in that space and others. This is also the VC’s first investment in any healthtech startup in Africa.
On the other hands, Dubai-based Global Ventures is a global VC investing in emerging-market founders. In May, 2020, the VC made its first ever equity investment in the health technology sector in the Nigerian startup Helium Health. Ilara Health is its second investment in healthtech in Africa, a major indication that it is not regretting its previous investment in Helium Health.
Finally, Chandaria Capital is a Nairobi-based VC firm. The VC has previously invested in Nigeria’s TradeDepot, Sokowatch, Kobo360, among other investments. Investment in Ilara Health (first, last year) is also its first investment in the healthtech space.
In any case, over the years, investors have not appeared to see African healthcare startup ecosystem as investment-worthy. This perhaps explains the fact that in the past three years (2017–2019), healthcare startups in Africa only closed 27 deals (a majority of them being follow-on or new rounds of investments, as against investment in entirely new healthcare ventures). The worst fact about investment in the African healthcare startup space is that out of a jaw-breaking $4.1 billion received by African startups in total in four years (2016–2019), healthcare startups only boast of a meagre $237.1 million.
Even the coronavirus has not motivated so many investors to flock to the healthtech space. Only Nigeria’s Helium Health’s $10m fundraise in May, 2020 and Cameroon’s Healthlane’s $2.4million funding in September, 2020 surpassed the $1m funding threshold. The figures are too poor compared to other countries outside Africa. Venture capital investment in healthtech in India, for instance, hit $8.2 billion in the first quarter of 2020, the highest quarterly total on record ever.
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, percentage funding to African healthcare startups has been low. All data are as adapted from Partech Africa reports for the years considered.
Founded in 2018, Kenyan health startup Ilara Health sources tech-powered diagnostics equipment and makes it accessible to Africans who struggle to afford it, bundling the equipment and integrating the devices via a proprietary technology platform. Doctors pay a deposit to use the equipment and then pay off the remaining cost in installments determined by usage..
Ilara Health has partnered with over 200 facilities across wider Nairobi and Kisumu, up from 15 at the start of the year, and will look to expand across wider Kenya and a new East African market within the next 12 months. It has also recently announced the receipt of a USD$1.1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in addition to its acceptance into MIT Solve’s fourth batch of Solvers, earlier this year.
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
Africa is still home to the highest number of maternal mortality rates in the world with more women dying through childbirth in the continent than any other region. This is primarily as a result of poor maternal healthcare across mostly Sub-Saharan Africa. This inspired the establishment of Kenyan e-health startup Ilara Health, which provides point of care diagnostic testing to small primary care clinics, especially for neglected communities in Kenya. To help the e-health startup expand its activities, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has provided it with a grant of $1.1 million to improve maternal health outcomes in the country.
Emilian Popa, chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of Ilara Health
Ilara Health provides affordable diagnostic equipment to patients and healthcare providers in peri-urban areas and has partnered with more than 120 clinics, enabling access to life-saving point of care diagnostic tools to thousands of patients across Kenya.
The startup’s underlying technology seamlessly integrates these diagnostic tools into easy to manage tablets and mobile phones that require minimal training to operate. Ilara raised a seed funding round in August of last year to help it scale its offering, and has now secured a US$1.1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The grant will be used to develop effective antenatal care (ANC) interventions and tech-based solutions for pregnant women unable to access essential services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ilara Health, in tandem with the Kisumu Ministry of Health and the Kenya Medical Research Institute, will leverage a network of local primary care facilities, telemedicine, and home-based health worker consultations to ensure safe continuity of life-saving maternal care during the pandemic and beyond.
Awarded in September, the grant is expected to reach approximately 4,000 low income pregnant women in peri-urban Kisumu county, and will address a significant drop in ANC attendance at large health facilities as concerns for possible COVID-19 transmission grow in these hotspots.
Ilara Health and its partners will work to ensure essential ANC is available at small local clinics. The project aims to improve access to diagnostics locally and, through Ilara Health’s technology platform and diagnostic tools, the team will reach pregnant women at their local clinics, individual homes, or remotely – collectively providing safe, COVID-free, high-quality care to both mother and baby.
Additionally, through its partnership with Butterfly Network, the company behind the telemedicine-enabled Butterfly iQ, a separate set of small facilities without in-house sonographers will be linked to imaging specialists so scans that are carried out locally can be read and diagnosed remotely in real time, so patients receive immediate feedback. If successful, this feature will be rolled out across the larger project to improve the availability of ultrasounds across peri-urban areas. The project also aims to drive community awareness on the importance of ANC services and ANC attendance in improving maternal and neonatal health outcomes for longer-term improvement in care.
“We are incredibly excited to receive support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to improve Kenya’s maternal health outcomes and promote Ilara Health’s core mission of improving access to diagnostics countrywide. This grant underscores the acute need for the continuation of essential ANC services during the COVID-19 pandemic; we hope to see a great reduction in poor maternal and neonatal health outcomes through its implementation in these low-resource peri-urban areas,” said Emilian Popa, chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of Ilara Health.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
Kenyan e-health startup Ilara Health, which provides point of care diagnostic testing to small primary care clinics, has received a US$1.1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to improve maternal health outcomes in the country.
Emilian Popa, chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of Ilara Health
“We are incredibly excited to receive support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to improve Kenya’s maternal health outcomes and promote Ilara Health’s core mission of improving access to diagnostics countrywide. This grant underscores the acute need for the continuation of essential ANC services during the COVID-19 pandemic; we hope to see a great reduction in poor maternal and neonatal health outcomes through its implementation in these low-resource peri-urban areas,” said Emilian Popa, chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of Ilara Health.
Here Is What You Need To Know
Awarded in September, the grant is expected to reach approximately 4,000 low income pregnant women in peri-urban Kisumu county, and will address a significant drop in ANC attendance at large health facilities as concerns for possible COVID-19 transmission grow in these hotspots
The grant will be used to develop effective antenatal care (ANC) interventions and tech-based solutions for pregnant women unable to access essential services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ilara Health, in tandem with the Kisumu Ministry of Health and the Kenya Medical Research Institute, will also leverage a network of local primary care facilities, telemedicine, and home-based health worker consultations to ensure safe continuity of life-saving maternal care during the pandemic and beyond.
The startup raised a seed funding round in August of last year to help it scale its offering, and has now secured a US$1.1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
A Look At What The Startup Does
Ilara Health provides affordable diagnostic equipment to patients and healthcare providers in peri-urban areas and has partnered with more than 120 clinics, enabling access to life-saving point of care diagnostic tools to thousands of patients across Kenya.
The startup’s underlying technology seamlessly integrates these diagnostic tools into easy to manage tablets and mobile phones that require minimal training to operate.
Ilara Health and its partners will work to ensure essential ANC is available at small local clinics. The project aims to improve access to diagnostics locally and, through Ilara Health’s technology platform and diagnostic tools, the team will reach pregnant women at their local clinics, individual homes, or remotely — collectively providing safe, COVID-free, high-quality care to both mother and baby.
Additionally, through its partnership with Butterfly Network, the company behind the telemedicine-enabled Butterfly iQ, a separate set of small facilities without in-house sonographers will be linked to imaging specialists so scans that are carried out locally can be read and diagnosed remotely in real time, so patients receive immediate feedback. If successful, this feature will be rolled out across the larger project to improve the availability of ultrasounds across peri-urban areas. The project also aims to drive community awareness on the importance of ANC services and ANC attendance in improving maternal and neonatal health outcomes for longer-term improvement in care.
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
