- Kenyan-based health startup Afya Rekod has raised $2million in Seed funding to expand its business and speed up the launch of its patient portal
- The platform allows organisations, health providers, and medical experts to interact and connect with patients, even remotely, in real-time while providing tools to store, manage and analyse health records
- The company’s Founder, John Kamara, said the investment would help them achieve their mission of empowering patients
Health Data Platform
Afya Rekod, a Kenyan-based health data platform, has raised $2million in Seed funding to expand its business and speed up the launch of its patient portal
The company has a health record management platform built to assist users with better healthcare services.
Its platform allows organisations, health providers, and medical experts to interact and connect with patients, even remotely, in real-time whilst providing tools to store, manage and analyse health records and manage hospitals and facilities.
Its platform is built on AI and blockchain to help patients and health providers access in real-time the mobility of health data.
Afya Rekod was founded in Kenya in 2019 and operates in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon, Zambia and the United States. It has over 150,000 users in 5 countries and is accessed via an app (android and ios) and web portal.
The company’s Founder, John Kamara, said the investment would help them achieve their mission of empowering patients, giving them access to their health data, and connecting with the health ecosystem, including hospitals, pharmacies, insurance, and beyond.
“For the past one and a half years, we’ve singularly focused on building a dynamic platform that streamlines health records with analytics and provides access to specialised clinics and experts. This delivers high-quality healthcare in a way that is critical for this moment,” Kamara said.
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Investment
Mac Venture Capital led the fundraising. The US-based seed-stage venture capital firm that invests in technology startups, leveraging shifts in cultural trends and behaviours. Next Chymia, an Asian private firm that focuses on blockchain-based companies, also took part in the fundraising.
MaC Venture Capital Managing partner Marlon Nichols said they were attracted to Afya Rekod because of its commitment to patient-centred health innovations and how it addresses the gaps of current healthcare issues.
“The pandemic has pressed the fast-forward button, bringing an urgency into health data accessibility and analytics. This is a global problem that innovative private companies like Afya Rekod can address. We’re thrilled to partner with the team to tackle this challenging problem in healthcare,” he said.
Investing in tech
In a related story, Stockholm-based Norrsken Foundation has set up a US$200 million fund to back Africa’s future tech giants.
US$200M fund set up to back growth-stage tech startups in Africa
The non-profit organisation that seeks to find solutions to problems including poverty, famine, environmental issues, and mental health has its sights set on key markets across the continent to fast-track the growth of African tech firms.
The announcement comes barely two months after the foundation opened its Norrsken House in Kigali, Rwanda, which plans to accommodate thousands of entrepreneurs by next year.
The foundation has partnered with thirty unicorn founders and a couple of seasoned venture capital and private equity investors to launch a $200 million fund targeted at African startups.
So far, the fund, dubbed the Norrsken22 African Tech Growth Fund, has raised US$110 million.
This is the latest fund launched by Norrsken after closing a US$139 million impact fund for European startups last March.
Africa Venture Capitalist funding reached an all-time high in 2021 at over US$4 billion, more than what startups in the continent raised in the two previous years combined.
Growth and late-stage deals such as US$100 million-plus rounds from unicorns Andela, Flutterwave, Chipper Cash, OPay, and Wave, among other companies, largely propelled this growth.
According to Briter Bridges, who provide market insights to businesses and investors across Africa, Latin America, and the Asia Pacific, late-stage deals were relatively fewer than early-stage deals.