Afrigather Girls-led healthtech firms in Africa noticed a major bump in funding from traders in 2023, according to a new report by Salient Advisory.
Rwandan-based startup Kasha, Kenya’s Maisha Meds, and Egypt-based startups Dawi Clinics and Chefaa cumulatively raised $52 million throughout 33 offers, and have been liable for a 2,000% improve in funding to women-led firms in Africa’s healthtech business.
In accordance with Jessica Vernon, CEO of Maisha Meds, her firm’s funding got here from fixing issues with a enterprise mannequin that’s totally different from opponents. “We’re assembly folks the place they first go to get care: at non-public drug outlets, pharmacies, and clinics. And we’re utilizing know-how to make these locations extra digital, environment friendly, and accessible,” Vernon informed TechCabal.
In 2022, women-led firms in healthcare have been solely in a position to elevate $2 million throughout 26 offers representing 1.4% of all healthtech funding. The report from Salient Advisory famous that Kasha’s $21 million Collection B funding was the most important funding ever made in a woman-led well being tech firm in Africa. Moreover, funding to mixed-gender founding groups rose to 21% in 2023 from 10% in 2022.
The funding in these firms follows what the Salient Advisory report described as a powerful yr for the final healthtech area, which acquired $167 million in 2023. Whereas the final healthtech funding was 2% decrease than what traders deployed in 2022, it was higher than the broader African tech ecosystem, which noticed a 39% funding decline.
Women-led startups in Africa have, through the years, been largely ignored by enterprise capital and personal fairness traders. However 2023 was a comparatively good yr for gender financing. Girls-led startups raised simply above $200 million, a +7% optimistic progress on a year-on-year foundation, knowledge from Africa: The Big Deal confirmed.
The two,000% funding progress is the primary time the gender financing hole in well being tech startups —and the ecosystem generally— is narrowing. The funding accounted for 31% of the full funding in well being tech firms in 2023.
Traders in Maisha Meds and many of the different women-led firms embrace international growth establishments akin to USAID and the Invoice & Melinda Gates Basis. Funding from these establishments is generally grants.
Maisha Meds raised $5.25 million in scale-up stage 3 funding from USAID Development Innovation Ventures (DIV). Stage 3 grants are DIV’s highest degree of funding awarded to innovators who’ve demonstrated the flexibility to scale up their confirmed options to vital challenges.
Grants from establishments just like the Invoice & Melinda Gates Basis, MSD, Cencora, Microsoft, and Chemonics have contributed to establishing women-led firms in well being tech and the area generally. The report famous that over half (52%) of the 145 offers for African healthtech innovators in 2023 have been grants indicating the necessary position that grants play in bridging funding gaps for early-stage healthtech innovators. This stands out as the most important supply of grant funding on the continent. Nonetheless, the full ticket measurement of grants was solely 7% of the funding raised, with the common being $168,000.
Fairness funding compared, accounted for 91% of funding raised, with a mean ticket measurement of $3.2 million. Consultants say there are nonetheless obstacles girls founders or CEOs face in accessing non-public fairness or enterprise capital funding.
These obstacles aren’t essentially from traders’ bias towards feminine founders or CEOs, however they might stem from these girls prioritising issues like household over their enterprise, therefore they don’t present up sufficient for traders to see them, in response to Ibijoke Faborode, founding father of Africa Feminine Founders Collective (AFFC).
AFFC which launched in February is planning a programme in 2024 that helps girls founders or CEOs create extra time for his or her startups and meet extra traders who’re thinking about investing of their sectors. The aim is to assist these startups give attention to constructing the improvements that make them enticing to traders and likewise handle issues in society.
Vermon identified that the particular women-led startups that have been funded within the DIV spherical are these which can be innovating on distinctive fashions for healthcare supply, together with a significant emphasis on the final mile and underserved populations.
Amaan Khalfan, CEO of Goodlife Pharmacy, East Africa’s largest non-public retail pharmacy chain, mentioned traders would largely fund a enterprise that has good file holding and may place itself in a method that identifies the alternatives within the well being tech area.
Jenne Nwokoye, founding father of Clafiya, a digital well being platform that has raised $610,000 so far primarily from enterprise capital, mentioned women-led startups aren’t elevating a lot from VCs as a result of there may be little intentionality behind funding women-led companies.
In accordance with Nwokoye, it might assist if extra VC funds have been run by girls entrepreneurs. Nonetheless, she notes that ladies must be extra open in sharing funding alternatives.
“For the subsequent funding cycle, I’m going to be extra intentional with the traders I would like, i.e. discovering traders who perceive well being, consumerism, and finance in Africa or generally,” she mentioned.
