Remedial Health, a healthtech startup that develops solutions to improve efficiency in Africa’s pharmaceutical value chain, has secured $12 million in an equity and debt funding round.
The funding is targeted at deepening the penetration of its services in Nigeria and supporting the delivery of financial services to drive business growth across the country’s pharmaceutical sector.
The $8 million series A equity funding round was led by US-based venture capital firm, QED Investors and co-led by Ventures Platform, which has now invested in Remedial Health at every funding round since the pre-seed stage.
This investment also marks Ventures Platform’s first Series A investment. Ycombinator, Tencent and Gaingels had also invested after participating in previous rounds, with the $4 million debt funding led by a consortium of local and international financial institutions.
Samuel Okwuada, CEO and co-founder of Remedial Health in an official statement issued on August 1 expressed delight to have raised the funds, despite the global funding downturn and the wide range of economic headwinds in Nigeria.
“Our continued growth has put us in a strong position to deliver our mission of creating a tech-enabled, pharmacy-centred healthcare network and we are looking forward to leveraging these funds to achieve more success,” he stated.
Across Africa, 85 percent of retail medicine purchases happen at micro-enterprises, typically neighbourhood pharmacies and Proprietary Patent Medicine Vendors (PPMVs). For store owners, 90 percent of their wholesale purchases happen in open markets that are largely unfit for consumables and medicines.
Store owners also have to endure expensive and time-consuming weekly order cycles that typically amount to two working days to access the inventory they need to stock their shelves. These realities, combined with a predominantly paper-based approach to managing operations, present various challenges that make it difficult to maximise profitability.
Remedial Health operates at the intersection of healthcare, supply chain management, technology and financial services, delivering the digital procurement infrastructure to power effective healthcare distribution for Africa’s 1.2 million pharmacies.
Starting in Nigeria, Remedial Health has built an effective operating system for pharmaceutical buyers and suppliers, working with more than 300 manufacturers and serving more than 5,000 hospitals, pharmacies and PPMVs across 34 of Nigeria’s 36 states, with regional hubs to enable a seamless experience across the country.
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Store owners can access more than 8,000 vetted products via the mobile app, with same-day delivery and inventory financing to minimise cash-flow friction for routine orders and maximise sales opportunities.
The startup also provides facility financing, payment solutions and inventory management solutions that makes it easier for store owners to run their business more efficiently and profitably.
For pharmaceutical manufacturers, Remedial Health provides an effective route-to-market for their products, as well as data-driven insights into local markets that can be leveraged for more effective planning and decision making.
This new funding will enable Remedial Health to deepen the reach of these services across Nigeria and deliver more game changing solutions to drive greater efficiency across the pharmaceutical value chain.
Gbenga Ajayi, partner, head of Africa, QED Investors described the feat as an indication of the market gap that exists, and the value they provide in providing effective holistic services to thousands of pharmacies across Nigeria.
“QED is particularly excited about the embedded financial services opportunities within the vertical — the ability to provide payments, embedded lending and other fintech solutions to this underserved but very crucial sector,” he said.
“The Remedial health team is perfectly positioned to solve this problem because of its unique positioning as a partner across the entire pharmaceutical value chain and the unique backgrounds of the founders as both seasoned phama operators and technology professionals. We are very excited to be on this journey and to support this next phase of the company and to bring our fintech DNA to bear in what is an already positive growth journey.”
Also, Kola Aina, founding partner of Ventures Platform, said the partnership signals the mission to support category leaders before they become obvious, noting that the success in securing this $12 million funding demonstrates growth in the management’s tenacity over the years.
“Our investment in this round represents our continued belief in their mission to deliver financial services to neighbourhood pharmacies and drive deeper growth in the pharmaceutical sector” he said.
