GHANA— Berry Health, a Ghanaian consumer health startup, has raised US$ 1.6 million from a pre-seed investment round co-led by U.S.-based large-size fund, Lightspeed Ventures.

The funding round was also led by General Catalyst with other investors including Reddit COO Jen Wong, Thirty Madison co-founders Demetri Karagas and Steven Gutentag, New York tech lawyer and Venture Capitalist Ed and Betsy Zimmerman, and former U.S. Surgeon General 2009 to 2013 Dr. Regina Benjamin.

“Lightspeed understands what it takes to build a successful technology-based healthcare business in various markets around the world,” said Paul Murphy, Partner at Lightspeed.

Murphy added that Lightspeed’s experience and longstanding relationship with Fredua, coupled with his unique insights on the gaps that exist for patients across sub-Saharan Africa, made them extremely excited to partner with Berry Health.

“We can’t wait for Fredua and the team to bring access to world-class healthcare to patients in Africa,” Murphy added.

According to its founder, Dr. Fredua Akosa, a British-Ghanaian medical doctor, public health expert, and former Venture Capitalist, Berry Health offers remote diagnosis and treatment for chronic medical conditions.

Additionally, the startup’s mission is to improve lives by treating important but underserved and stigmatized conditions, while increasing patient agency.

Akosa reaffirmed that the health tech startup is “bringing judgment-free health care in a 21st-century way in a continent where stigma cuts deeper and is affecting so many lives.”

Members of the Berry Health team include VP of Marketing Lusiana Castiglione (ex-WPP), VP of Product Management Gaurav Kumar (ex-Instacart), Director of Design Daniel Harvey (ex-Babylon Health), and an expert clinical team.

Berry Health will start serving customers in Ghana, offering remote diagnosis for conditions such as anxiety, depression, sexual health (e.g., birth control and erectile dysfunction), dermatology, and hair loss, through telemedicine and treatment via online consultations and home delivery services.

The platform will offer individuals the opportunity to engage in conversations with licensed medical doctors or clinical psychologists.

Berry Health assures its potential clients that they can receive personalized treatment plans tailored to their specific conditions and conveniently have their medications delivered to them.

Operating on a subscription-based model, the platform intends to offer its comprehensive services at an annual fee of US$26.

This subscription grants users unlimited access to all the platform’s features and consultations with clinicians will be available at a fee of US$5 per session.

As Berry Health prepares to emerge from stealth mode, the funding it has secured will be instrumental in advancing its platform, enhancing its network of medical professionals, and extending its reach to a wider audience within Ghana and beyond.

The received funds will also play a pivotal role in supporting the growth and development of Berry Health as it strives to provide accessible healthcare solutions to a broader

Genesis of Berry Health

Akosa, the Yale and Oxford-trained public health professional said, “During the pandemic, I’d come over to Ghana to visit family and of course, I had a lot of patients, including family members and friends, asking for free consultations.”

Akosa added that he realized a massive explosion in mental health conditions and conditions around stigmatized health care where people felt so embarrassed going to the hospital and talking about things and unfortunately, they felt ashamed when they shouldn’t have.

“That was the genesis for me for Berry: just realizing that there is a huge need to break stigma in health through technology,” Akosa told TechCrunch in an interview.

Furthermore, around 11 people per 100,000 die by suicide in Africa yearly, according to the World Health Organization that’s compared to the global average of nine per 100,000 people.

In addition, the sub-Saharan region is second only to Southeast Asia in the highest incidence of STIs, with over 80 million cases annually.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to tackling the stigma around sexual and mental health in Africa considering sporadic governmental efforts.

The models employed by the startup will help further democratize access to healthcare services traditionally limited to in-person in spaces where people feel comfortable being themselves.  

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