NIGERIA – Clinify, a medtech startup, has raised US$1.5 million in seed funding from Thin Air Labs, HaloHealth, and Calgary doctors, to launch its electronic medical record (EMR) platform.

This round increases Clinify’s total fundraising to US$2.1 million, including a US$100,000 pre-seed round from 2021.

Founded in 2020 by Michael Omidele, Clinify helps digitise and centralise medical records across Africa’s healthcare system and improve patient outcomes.

Clinify’s objective is to “digitally centralise health records” and increase access to healthcare in Africa. The platform of the early-stage firm intends to be a “one-stop-shop” that connects various healthcare sector stakeholders and supports a variety of services, including EMRs, billing, insurance, and telehealth.

Clinify’s technology has been used by over ten medical insurance companies, 130 healthcare providers, and 12,000 patients.

When Clinify was released late last year, Omidele built it over the course of nearly two years. Since launching, the firm has been able to grow by collaborating with some of Nigeria’s biggest health maintenance organisations or medical insurance groups.

Omidele asserts that Clinify has been able to move more fast thanks to this strategy than one of its more seasoned, unnamed competitors, which had its technology installed on a site-by-site basis.

As the firm strives to build up its current tech infrastructure and add additional features to its platform, Clinify is investing its seed money in geographic expansion and product development. The firm already has 20 employees after using this funding to hire another 15 people.

The need to combat infectious diseases has up till now propelled some development towards EMRs in Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa, however, continues to lag behind other regions in the adoption of EMR, according to a 2017 paper that was published in the International Journal of Health Sciences.

According to research, the majority of Nigeria’s health records are still kept on paper today. “Adoption and utilisation of EMR in underdeveloped nations is not frequent and, in most circumstances, non-existent,” according to a 2022 paper published in Frontiers in Digital Health, noting that Nigeria’s adoption of them has been especially sluggish.

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