Healthcare startup incubator announces 30 startups for 2023/2024 round

NIGERIA— Investing in Innovation (i3), an African based and led e-health startup incubator, has announced the 30 digital healthcare startups that will receive funding and other support structures to grow their companies.  

The thirty African e-health startups that have been selected to take part in the 2023/2024 round will securee a US$50,000 grant and access to market opportunities to catalyse growth-driven partnerships with donors, industry and institutional stakeholders.

I3 noted that the startups were drawn from 14 African countries, with nearly 50% of them been women-led, and 30% of the companies operate in Francophone Africa.

Moreover, majority are in early, and growth-stages and are delivering novel solutions for device and medicines distribution, stock management and financing, authentication, traceability, medical waste management and more.

Additionally, digitally-enabled, locally-led innovations have huge potential to help address the challenges of access to medicines for historically unserved patients in Africa.

Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and sponsored by World Health Organization Regional offices in Africa (WHO-AFRO), AmerisourceBergen, Merck Sharpe & Dohme (MSD), Microsoft and Chemonics.

The US$7 million initiative is a direct response to a healthtech startup report prompted a by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other global investors earlier in 2022.

Ann Allen, Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said, “We are thrilled to see strong women leaders at the helm of many of these startups, as we know innovation ecosystems are strengthened by diversity.”

I3 described the startups as demonstrating that African-built solutions are poised to help transform access to health products in many ways.

The selected startups are; Chekkit Technologies, Disrupt Pharma Tech Africa (Medsaf), DrugStoc Ehub Limited, Erith Health Services, Gricd, LifeBank, Lifestores Healthcare, OneHealth, ClinicPesa, Damu Sasa, The Pathology Network, Negus Med, Signalytic, Viebeg Technologies, Zuri Health, Xetova, Cure Bionics, DeepEcho, Dr Sett, Infiuss Health Limited, Medevice, Meditect, Sobrus, Valorigo, Azanza Health, Appy Saude, Aviro Health, Contro, VaxiGlobal, and Zinacare.

Dr Abdullahi Sheriff, Associate Vice President of Global Market Access at MSD noted “The innovation represented by the start-ups selected is inspiring. At MSD, we are excited by the opportunity to collaborate with these leading innovators through i3, to help transform health care supply chains and improve access to medicines across Africa.”

i3 is coordinated by Salient Advisory, SCIDaR, and SouthBridge A&I and is operationalized by leading technology hubs across the continent: CCHub for West Africa, Startupbootcamp Afritech for Southern Africa, IMPACT Lab for North and Francophone Africa, and Villgro Africa for East Africa.

These hubs are responsible for the selection process and the follow-up of the startups throughout the program.

Jason Dinger, SVP, Strategy and Innovation, Amerisource Bergen also commented, “Start-ups can play a major role in digitizing supply chains in Africa to help ensure they are resilient, agile, and responsive to the needs of patients. At Amerisource Bergen we are thrilled to support the growth and commercialization of the selected companies, as they work towards impact at scale.”

Efosa Ojomo, Director, Global Prosperity at the Clayton Christensen Institute, and member of the i3 Steering Committee added that I3’s focus on African ingenuity is long overdue – supporting locally-led, market creating innovations to scale will equip the continent to achieve health gains, generate prosperity and weather future crises.

Prashant Yadav, Senior Fellow, Centre for Global Development, and INSEAD Professor who is Chair of the i3 Steering Committee also remarked, “The breadth of innovation represented by the cohort of companies selected is confirming that technology-led business model innovations can play an

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