Ghanaian health tech startup mPharma, has raised $35 million in a Series D funding round. The financing raised comprises $30 million in equity and $5 million in debt from CitiBank, bringing the total amount raised by mPharma to $65 million.
Investors that participated in the round include JAM Fund; a venture capital firm founded by Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen, Unbound; a growth investment firm by Shravin Mittal the managing director Bharti Global limited (Bharti family investment arm) and the first investment in Africa for Lux Capital; a New-York City-based VC firm investing in science and tech ventures. Other investors include Northstar, Social Capital, Novastar, and TO Ventures
The company is currently building a network of community pharmacies across Africa as it plans to be the go-to primary healthcare service provider for millions of people residing in the region.
According to CEO Gregory Rockson, the latest funding will be used to build the startup’s data infrastructure, triple its talent pool over the next three years, and support expansion plans in its current and new markets. It is also rolling out an e-commerce platform for pharmaceuticals.
“We are hiring over 100 engineers to build all our technology in-house and this includes a massive data infrastructure we are creating. We are also investing in other skilled talent like doctors and nurses, professionals that are critical in the work we do,” Rockson told TechCrunch.
“Bloom our pharmacy management software will allow us to build structured population health datasets that enable Mutti pharmacies to provide better care pathways to the community they serve,” he said.
“We are transforming community pharmacies into the foundation of a modern health system in Africa. We will have a Mutti pharmacy in every community on the continent. Guarantee the availability and safety of medicines for each community and utilize the physical infrastructure of Mutti pharmacies to expand Mutti Doctor (the telemedicine service) creating the largest network of doctor offices and diagnostic centers.”
To offer all-rounded services, mPharma rolled out an ecommerce platform — the Mutti Online Pharmacy — a few weeks ago allowing its members to shop for pharmaceutical products. Starting in Ghana, they are initially only dispensing over-the-counter medication, but with plans to include prescription drugs in the near future. mPharma’s Mutti Online Pharmacy is now among the handful of exclusively digital pharmacies, including Kenya’s MyDawa, with operations in Africa.
Source: TechCrunch
