At a time the world is battling coronavirus, innovation is required in combating the health challenges. Recently, Ventures Platform announced its intention to support startups with innovative ideas that could help bring an end to the pandemic in its Covid-19 Innovation Challenge.
More than 500 teams applied with projects or ideas that were in relation to critical challenges posed by the COVID-19. The projects proffered solution in areas including heat mapping, preventative or information bots, solutions to assist with lifestyle adjustments, and COVID-19 reporting.
After the deadline which was on March 23, 33 of the submitted applications were shortlisted for the next phase which included submission of a video pitch before 6PM WAT on the 25th of March.
From the 33 startups, 6 were supposed to make the final cut. However, based on the feasibility and relevance of the pitches received, 7 projects and ideas were selected for funding, mentorship, rapid development and deployment.
Here are the 7 startups that were selected.
#1 COVID-19 Triage App by Wellvis Health
The Triaging app is a product that is being developed by Nigerian Health-tech startup, Wellvis. By using the software, people can find out if they are at risk of getting infected with the COVID-19, what to do, and if they really need to visit a hospital.
One of the major benefits of the app is that it will help to reduce panic. It will also reduce the overcrowding of hospitals as people who would normally throng to hospitals in order to report their symptoms won’t need to if they aren’t at risk.
Another benefit of the app is that it instructs infected people to call the list of virus emergency numbers provided by countries. The emergency numbers in five countries – Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Gambia and Cameroun are provided.
It also provides a link to chat with a doctor on Wellvis as well as links to frequently asked questions and prevention tips about Covid-19.
#2 COVID-19 Tracker by Infodemics
Infodemics is a health startup that leverages social circles and hierarchies to disseminate appropriate health information in communities. Its COVID-19 tracker app enables people to do one of two things- report isolation, and request for a COVID-19 test.
On the app, people can report their symptoms and answer a few deliberate questions which could be helpful in arranging for a test for the individual.
#3 MyServiceAgent by iQube
Ripple effects of the COVID-19 outbreak is panic and impulsive reactions of people who fear that they may have contacted the virus one way or the other. This puts stress on the systems and people put in place by the NCDC to receive calls and attend to people with concerns related to the pandemic.
IQube Labs pitched a solution to this challenge and were selected. The solution will assist the NCDC to field calls to their numbers intelligently.
It will sort, process and send back relevant information to the NCDC to act upon as quickly as possible. This will help the NCDC with the hundreds of calls that come in from concerned citizens.
“This service will be able to communicate with hundreds of callers simultaneously and intelligently. We had Nigerian businesses in mind when we started building this solution, then COVID-19 came. We are always ready and willing to support our country to provide quality life to the citizens, so why not,”
Mayowa Ayodeji, Team Lead at iQubes Labs
#4 GloEpid by Prunedge
There is not much detail released yet for the healthtech product being developed by Prunedge in response to the COVID-19, yet.
The company however develops innovative solutions to improve the efficiency of processes, the livelihood of people and aid decision making within organizations. This was enough to grant it a place in the Covid-19 innovation challenge.
#5 Driage by WellaHealth
This solution is a digital triage bot that provides guidance to users based on NCDC guidelines. It also records users’ responses for follow up by the relevant public health organizations as needed.
This solution will focus on reducing people’s need for and dependence on physical medical practitioners. By so doing, the load on the medical officers can be lightened, and attention can be distributed to the more critical cases and getting more people to the path of recovery.
WellaHealth has previously focused on providing easy to access health care services for Nigerians. The team is led by Ikpeme Neto.
#6 COVID-19 Nigeria by Innover Technologies
Innover Technologies it is committed to using technology to solve problems. The startup’s solution for the project is named COVID-19 Nigeria.
It is in its accelerated development stage at the moment, and there are not many details about the solution available yet.
#7 cMapit Technologies
cMapit developed a Geographic Information System (GIS) and data visualisation software that helps to visualise geospatial data and analyse its variables.
With the software, it will be possible to study data variables concerning the coronavirus pandemic and how it can be tracked and visualised so that predictions can be more accurate. This would ensure that more effective and accurate measures can be put in place.
The application portal has been left open to encourage more pitches so that more solutions that can be helpful in curbing the spread can be implemented.
Each winning team will have $2000 equity-free grant and will have access to premium services, workspaces and mentoring to fast-track the development and deployment of the individual projects.
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