Thirty African e-health startups have been selected to take part in the pan-African Investing in Innovation (i3) programme, securing a US$50,000 grant and access to market opportunities to catalyse growth-driven partnerships with donors, industry and institutional stakeholders.
Disrupt Africa reported in June on the launch of the i3 programme, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and sponsored by Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), the World Health Organisation Regional Office for Africa, AUDA-NEPAD, and AmerisourceBergen.
The goal is to invest in Africa’s most promising early to growth-stage startups in health care supply chains, and the first 30 startups have now been selected, hailing from 14 countries across Africa. Nearly 50 per cent of the startups are women-led, and 30 per cent operate in Francophone Africa.
The selected startups will receive a US$50,000 grant and support to catalyse growth-driven partnerships with donors, industry and institutions. They are Chekkit Technologies, Medsaf, DrugStoc, Erith Health Services, Gricd, LifeBank, Lifestores Healthcare, OneHealth, ClinicPesa, Damu Sasa, The Pathology Network, Negus Med, Signalytic, Viebeg Technologies, Zuri Health, Xetova, Cure Bionics, DeepEcho, Dr Sett, Infiuss Health Limited, Medevice, Meditect, Sobrus, Valorigo, Azanza Health, Appy Saude, Aviro Health, Contro, VaxiGlobal, and Zinacare.
“Digitally-enabled, locally-led innovations have huge potential to help address the challenges of access to medicines for historically unserved patients in Africa. We are thrilled to see strong women leaders at the helm of many of these startups, as we know innovation ecosystems are strengthened by diversity,” said Ann Allen, senior programme officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
