Uganda-based e-health startup Neopenda has closed a US$1.04 million seed funding round to transition its product to manufacturing and commercialisation, grow its team and expand clinical pilots to other markets.
Founded by Columbia University alumni biomedical engineers Sona Shah and Teresa Cauvel, Neopenda is building medical devices for emerging markets, aiming to provide the most vulnerable patient populations in the world with access to high quality healthcare.
Its first product is a wearable biometric monitoring device that continuously measures four crucial vital signs: pulse rate, respiratory rate, blood oxygen saturation, and temperature. The health data from multiple devices are wirelessly displayed on a tablet in real time, and health workers are alerted when vitals go outside the healthy range.
It has now secured a seed round, led by Axel Johnson Inc and also includes SUNU Capital, an East-Africa based venture capital fund, and several angels. Neopenda also recently closed an equity crowdfunding campaign which oversubscribed with nearly 700 investors contributing and raised an additional US$288,104 for the startup.
