Although investments in health tech and healthcare, in general, are still in the minority in the African startup landscape, it is nevertheless crucial to examine the broad ramifications that firms like these could have.
For a long, Africa has been plagued by inefficiency in terms of obtaining medicine, giving treatment, and delivering inhabitants with an appropriate level of professional services.
Nevertheless, the solution could come from these prospective health tech startups that have direct experience with the tragedies and have the means and motivation to remedy them, and as a result, investors are supporting their efforts.
Investors are encouraging health tech businesses in Africa, such as Susu based in the Ivory Coast and France. The Ivorian firm has received $1 million in pre-seed capital in order to continue offering inexpensive and available healthcare to its consumers in Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Cameroon.
The majority of the funds came from angel investors, but the startup also received $1.2 million in loan and grant funding from BPI France, the French government’s public investment bank.
After she lost her father to consequences from a severe health issue owing to poor management, Bola Bardet created the company alongside Laurent Leconte (CTO) and Sandrine Egron (COO). Bardet founded Susu in 2019 after working at a luxury firm, as an investment banker at JP Morgan, and as the founder of her own consulting firm.
Susu provides care packages or bundles to individuals with chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, as well as pregnant women, who need close monitoring and preventative guidance in order to live their best lives with their ailments.
Susu is a unique platform in that the startup proposes a community financing option in which family members either locally or in the diaspora can assist patients to pay their monthly subscription costs via care bundles in addition to enabling patients to finance their expenses. Care packages are essentially medical calendars that include doctor appointments, nurse visits, SMS medical advice, and a variety of other medical activities for patients.
The product appears to have struck a chord with the company’s 5,000-strong user base, which increased by 5 times last year. Revenue surged by more than 400 percent in 2021, according to the business.
Techbuild’s Take
On the African continent, health technology is expanding, and investment in health-tech startups is increasing. Despite limited infrastructure, the number of mobile phone users in Africa is fast increasing, and apps that allow remote access to medical information and diagnosis are springing up all across the continent.
These platforms assist hospital staff in reducing the burden and concentrating on patients with urgent needs.
Africa’s healthcare systems are inefficient, to say the least. Medical devices and medicine supply chains, last-mile health-service delivery, medical data analysis, storage, and financing have been disrupted in countries across Africa.
However, advancements in telemedicine, drones, big data analytics, wearables, and data management have opened the door to the prospect of effective, cost-efficient solutions that could enhance overall health outcomes.
African health-tech entrepreneurs have shown a remarkable ability to maximize the resources available to them, Susu is an example of this.
The startup provides care packages or bundles to patients with chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension, as well as pregnant women, who need close monitoring of their symptoms and preventative guidance in order to live as healthily as possible.
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