Remedial Health, a healthtech startup that develops solutions to make Africa’s pharmaceutical sector more efficient, has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding to roll out its digital procurement and PMR (patient medication records) platforms, and make it easier for neighbourhood pharmacies and Proprietary Patent Medicine Vendors (PPMVs) to access affordable and authentic retail medicines. The startup is also part of the Winter 2022 cohort of Silicon Valley’s prestigious Y Combinator accelerator.
The pre-seed funding round was led by Global Ventures and Ventures Platform, with participation from Ingressive Capital, Voltron Capital, and angel investment from Flutterwave’s Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, Victor Asemota, Opeyemi Awoyemi’s (Jobberman co-founder) Angel Syndicate Fund, and other investors. Participation in the Y Combinator accelerator will provide access to support and a network of partners and advisors to drive growth for the startup.
Starting in Nigeria, Remedial Health is delivering technology solutions that enable greater efficiency and profitability in Africa’s pharmaceutical sector and supporting the development of a tech-enabled, pharmacy-centred healthcare network across the continent. It already has operations in 6 states across Nigeria and is connected to more than 100 pharmaceutical manufacturers and suppliers, including GSK, Pfizer, and Astrazeneca, as well as Nigeria’s Orange Drugs, Emzor, and Fidson Healthcare. The new funds will support the expansion into more states in Nigeria to empower more pharmacies and PPMVs as the frontline of healthcare in more states across Nigeria.
PPMVs are businesses without a trained pharmacist that sell pharmaceutical products on a retail basis for profit. They provide the main source of medicines for many common illnesses and account for more than 80 percent of all the drugs sold in Africa’s $45 billion pharmaceutical industry (projected to reach $70 billion by 2030). However, a fragmented market and an opaque supply chain means manufacturers have limited visibility into their performance, leading to inefficient decision making on forecasting, production and distribution.
Using Remedial Health’s digital procurement platform, pharmacies and PPMVs can source all the medicines, consumables and small medical devices for their practice via a mobile app or mobile responsive web store at open air medicine market prices and have them delivered within 24 hours. All products are vetted before distribution to verify their authenticity and Buy-Now-Pay-Later options are also available to enable store owners stock up and maximise the sales opportunities available to them. They only pay after stock has been dispensed to customers.
The startup also provides an affordable and easy-to-use patient medication records (PMR) platform that enables pharmacies and PPMVs to digitally manage day-to-day operations and seamlessly run their practises. The PMR platform stores patient medication records, patient communications, stock management, order processing, reporting and accounting to support more effective and efficient patient care. The platform also enables Remedial Health to provide consolidated, real-time data on market behaviour to manufacturers for increased profitability and better decision-making across the value chain.
According to Samuel Okwuada, CEO and co-founder of Remedial Health, “Pharmacies and PPMVs have been the frontline of healthcare in Nigeria for many years and we are excited to have raised these funds to connect them more effectively to manufacturers and ensure that their data is reflected more accurately in decision making across the pharmaceutical value chain. The ongoing global pandemic has brought the importance of healthcare to the fore and we strongly believe that these businesses can play a key role in safeguarding lives and livelihoods across the continent for years to come.”
Sacha Haider, Principal at Global Ventures, said, “We are delighted to be partnering with Remedial Health to address some of the challenges impacting access to healthcare on the continent. There is huge scope for growth for Remedial Health not only in Nigeria’s pharmaceutical industry but also across the African continent. We look forward to support Samuel and the team on their mission to build a tech-enabled, pharmacy-centred healthcare network across Africa”.
