Lagos-based provider of electronic medical records, Helium Health has secured a $10 million Series A funding co-led by Global Ventures a Dubai-based investment firm and Asia Africa Investment & Consulting (AAIC).
According to reports, Helium Health plans to deploy the funds in hiring new talents and growing its operations in countries like Ghana, and Liberia. The funding will also support expansion into new markets in North Africa, East Africa, and Francophone West Africa this year.
VentureSouq, Chrysalis Capital, Kairos Angels, Flying Doctors Healthcare Investment Company, Ohara Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, HOF Capital, Y Combinator, and Tencent, who participated in the startup’s $2 million seed round in 2017, also participated in the latest round.
Helium Health was founded in 2016 by Adegoke Olubusi, Tito Ovia and Dimeji Sofowora with a mission to transform medical services delivery in Nigeria and Africa.
“We started out with taking hospitals digital but our vision has always been bigger. We’re building the technology infrastructure to connect a fragmented healthcare sector and power the delivery of quality, affordable, comprehensive care across the continent. The devastating impact of the pandemic is a humbling reminder of how critical responsive and agile health systems are to our collective wellbeing. Only data and technology can produce the required responsiveness and agility to tackle health challenges of this magnitude. It has never been more imperative for Africa to build a modern and digitized healthcare system,” said Olubusi, CEO of Helium Health.
The new funding comes with the launch of new products — such as the MyHelium Patient app to facilitate appointments and information sharing between healthcare providers and citizens. These new products will help boost operational efficiency, improve revenue generation, expand health financing, monitor public health and improve health outcomes
HeliumPay: a billing and payment solution that enables healthcare facilities to accept payments from multiple sources (debit cards, bank transfers, and USSD payments) linking them to patient invoices. In addition to facilitating reconciliation, accounting, and auditing, HeliumPay helps facilities improve billing enforcement, plug financial leakages, and gain visibility into their revenues.
Helium CareCredit: a provider-financing product that enables Helium Health to analyze a facilities’ operational, clinical and financial performance data captured by the EMR to create a unique healthcare lending credit score and offer healthcare facilities collateral-free loans.
Helium Cover: enrollee, tariff and claims management product that reduces fraud and simplifies the health insurance claims process for corporate, government and health maintenance organizations, and the health providers in their networks.
MyHelium Patient Superapp: an app (Android, iOS & web) that helps healthcare facilities manage patient engagement and retention by enabling patients to view their medical records (visit summaries, lab results, prescriptions), book appointments and order medication.
Helium Teleclinic: a platform that enables brick and mortar hospitals to have televisits with their patients and remain competitive in the digital age. With the Helium Teleclinic solution, healthcare providers can see more patients in less time, expand their clientele and earn more revenue.
“We started out with taking hospitals digital but our vision has always been bigger. We’re building the technology infrastructure to connect a fragmented healthcare sector and power the delivery of quality, affordable, comprehensive care across the continent.
Helium Health is the second startup, after 54gene, to secure double digits funding in 2020 signifying the growing interest in the sector in Nigeria and Africa.
“Only 30% of hospital visits across Africa are recorded so it’s a massive need in the market,” Noor Sweid, general partner at Global Ventures said.
The COVID-19 pandemic has further worsened the health situation in the country. She says Helium Health has the opportunity to solve large problems through its software and help accelerate healthcare accessibility.
“We are greatly honored to be part of this journey with Helium Health. From our first meeting with the management team, we saw that the company had an outstanding track record and huge potential for digitizing the healthcare sector in Africa,” said Nobuhiko Ichimiya, co-lead Investor, AAIC.
