Nigerian health tech startup, Remedial Health raises $4.4m seed funding

Nigerian health tech startup, Remedial Health has announced that it has raised $4.4 million in a seed funding round. With the recent funding, the startup seeks to expand its footprint across Nigeria as well as enter other markets in West Africa and East Africa.

The latest round was led by Global Ventures, the VC firm that co-led its pre-seed round, with participation from Tencent, Y Combinator, Cathexis Ventures, LightSpeed Venture Partners Scout Fund, Ventures Platform, Alumni Ventures and True Capital Management, and a number of angel investors including Guillaume Luccisano and Christopher Gold

Founded by Samuel Okwuada (CEO) and Victor Benjamin (COO) in 2020, Remedial Health makes it easy for pharmacies to source pharmaceutical products from major manufacturers and distributors, including GSK, Pfizer and AstraZeneca, as well as Nigeria’s Orange Drugs, Emzor and Fidson Healthcare.

Commenting on the funding to TechCrunch, Samuel Okwuada expressed optimism in the direction of the company over the years. He stated the company has grown in customer size and satisfaction ratings since it started.

We have seen more than 6x growth in the number of customers on our platform since January. The feedback we constantly receive about what they like the most about our platform is around the ease and efficiency of our inventory finance offering, the variety of products they can access on our platform and the effectiveness of our procurement process.

Samuel Okwuada, CEO and Co-founder, Remedial Health

The founders noted that the launch of their inventory finance product has attracted more users to their platform, as they have been able to take advantage of their technology to grow their businesses and navigate the challenge of rising prices.

“More than 60 per cent of our customers use the inventory finance product and we have seen more than 50 per cent growth in their average basket size since we launched the product,” he adds.

Wherever our customers are based in Nigeria, they typically receive their orders within 24 hours. Our last-mile delivery, backed by its distribution hubs, is done in-house or through our partners.

– Sam Okwuada

Read also: Ghanaian startup, mPharma acquires majority stake in Nigerian pharmacy brand, HealthPlus

About Remedial Health

Remedial combines the use of pharmaceutical procurement innovations and inventory financing solutions to improve access to genuine and affordable drugs for Africans. Having grown its reach from six to sixteen states in Nigeria since February, the startup also plans to expand its operation to the remaining 20 states in the country.

Since launching in 2021, the business has concentrated on providing solutions for neighbourhood pharmacies and PPMVs, which account for more than 80% of the retail sales of pharmaceuticals in Africa.

These companies are an essential component of how they have implemented their model in protecting lives and livelihoods across the continent and act as the front line of healthcare delivery.

By enabling neighbourhood pharmacies and hospitals to source from certified merchants, Remedial Health increases pharmaceutical value chains’ efficiency and reduces the supply of fraudulent and inferior goods. Its inventory financing and loan features help its clients to increase their basket sizes and improve their operating efficiencies.

Also, manufacturers benefit from an efficient supply chain, a clear and instant route-to-market for their products and real-time intelligence on product utilization created by the platform to improve decision-making on forecasting, production and distribution.

Remedial Health is among the increasing health tech startups that are streamlining the pharmaceutical sector across Africa, an industry that has for decades remained fragmented – leading to stock unavailability, quality concerns and erratic pricing.

Early this year, the Nigerian health-tech startup announced plans to scale within the West African country digitizing pharmacies and bringing efficiency to the pharmaceutical supply chain after raising seed funding.

Read also: Healthtech startup, HelpMum receives $250,000 grant to support AI vaccination project