Nigerian diagnostics startup Stack Dx has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from early-stage fund Microtraction to help it expand its market share.
With around 80,000 Nigerian women dying annually from breast cancer, and nearly five million from misdiagnosis of hepatitis diseases, Stack Dx was launched to provide molecular diagnostic services to patients, doctors, and hospitals in Africa.
Founded by Abasi Ene-Obong, Damilola Oni, Francis Osifo and Gatumi Aliyu, Stack Dx has developed a seamless online platform that connects patients and health professionals to genetic tests. Many of these tests have not been offered before in Nigeria, such as its predictive cancer tests, pharmacogenetic tests, and liquid biopsies.
The startup also allows health professionals in Nigeria and many African countries, for the first time, to provide targeted treatments to patients and prevent misdiagnosis of diseases at scale.
Stack Dx has now raised funding from Nigerian early-stage investment fund Microtraction, which invests up to US$65,000 in startups at the very earliest stage of their development. The company has backed a host of Nigerian startups in the last year, including Accounteer, Riby, Thank U Cash, CowryWise, Bitkoin Africa, Wallet.ng and Allpro. As ever, the exact amount invested remains undisclosed.
Dayo Koleowo, principal investment officer at Microtraction, said molecular diagnostics was a relatively nascent market across most of Sub-Saharan Africa but had established itself in places such as Brazil, Mexico and South Africa. The aim is to replicate this and build a market in Nigeria.
“We believe the founders have not only the right mindset but understand the problem deeply and are also well suited to capture the market opportunity,” said Koleowo.
“We invested in Stack Dx because of the quality and ability of the team to execute and solve a genuinely growing problem in Africa. However, as at the time they applied, they had secured a partnership with a key strategic partner, showing their ability to close complex corporate partnerships which gave us even more confidence in backing a pre-launch startup.”
