Investing in Innovation Africa (i3), a pan-African initiative for startups building the future of healthcare supply chains, has announced its second cohort of 29 companies.
Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and sponsored by Cencora (formerly AmerisourceBergen), Merck Sharpe & Dohme (MSD), Microsoft, and Chemonics, i3 is dedicated to facilitating the commercialisation of promising early- and growth-stage companies.
Selected startups receive introductions to leading potential customers in industry, donor agencies and governments, a US$50,000 grant, and tailored investment readiness support from leading accelerators Villgro Africa, IMPACT Lab, Startupbootcamp Afritech, and CcHUB.
The 29 startups chosen operate in 21 different African countries, delivering digitally-enabled healthcare supply chain solutions. Innovators are building online pharmacies and telemedicine firms, as well as inventory management services for pharmacies, clinics and hospitals, supply chain data analytics, product protection, product visibility and more.
They are, in alphabetical order – Afia Group, Aimcare Health, Bena Care, BioCertica, Chari Pharma, CheckUps Medical, Chefaa, Dawa Mkononi, Drugstore Nigeria, Famasi, Field Intelligence, GICMED, Grinta, Healthtracka, Kapsule, Medical Diagnostech, Medpharma Alliance, Octosoft Technologies, Pharmarun, Pharmaserv Health Project Nigeria, Reductiona, SASA Health, Tech Care For All Eastern Africa, Technovera – Pelebox Smart Lockers, Tibu Health, UltraTeb, Waspito, WellaHealth, and Welo.
Innovators selected will benefit from the i3’s annual Access to Markets event in Nairobi, which will be on November 14-15. The event facilitates dynamic partnership dialogues between industry stakeholders, governments, donors, and large multilateral agencies. Connections are made to drive the commercialisation and scale of the startups through mutually beneficial contracts, pilot projects, and investments. The first cohort of 31 companies supported by i3 last year forged 24 contracts, pilots, and strategic partnerships to date.
“As countries and global health institutions work to expand access to priority products, we face an urgent need to leverage solutions across the public and private sectors to improve health outcomes and strengthen local health systems. Programmes like i3 help us understand, support and engage with technology-driven solutions emerging across Africa, hand-in-hand with our partners,” said Kieran Daly, director of global health agencies and funds at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
