Kenyan healthtech startup, Ilara Health, has raised $3.75 million in Series A investment to expand its diagnostic reach across Africa.
The Series A round was led by Lagos, London, and Nairobi-based VC firm, TLcom Capital. Dutch-based and East Africa-focused investment firm DOB Equity; Nairobi-based VC Fund, Chandaria Capital; and Global Ventures also participated.
This comes after the East African startup received a $1.1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation two months ago. Before that, it secured $735k seed investment last year.
In addition to expanding its diagnostic reach across Africa, Ilara Health will use the funding to accelerate the development of its integrated patient health management platform.
Towards making medical diagnosis available and affordable to healthcare facilities in Kenya, irrespective of their sizes and location, Ilara Health is providing tech-powered diagnostic and medical equipment.
The startup sources this equipment at affordable prices and make them available to healthcare facilities who then pay for them over a period of time. Beyond making the devices available, Ilara Health bundles the devices and integrates them via a proprietary technology platform.
According to Emilian Popa, co-founder and CEO, the investment is important to Ilara Health’s expansion plans and providing inclusive healthcare to Africans.
“This funding round allows us to significantly grow our on-the-ground presence and invest resources into our technology capabilities.
In just one year of operation, we have seen the incredible impact our Ilara Health platform has had in delivering improved services across maternal, metabolic, cardiovascular, and infectious disease care,” he said.
When Popa spoke to us last year, he said the startup’s vision was to make diagnostics more affordable to over 500 million Africans. With this raise and subsequent expansion, Ilara Health seems to be making steady plans to achieve that.
The one-year-old startup has already partnered with over 200 facilities across wider Nairobi and Kisumu. This number is up from 15 at the start of the year. Similarly, the startup will look to expand across wider Kenya and a new East African market within the next 12 months.
That being said, here’s what Ido Sum, partner at TLCom, had this to say of the investment.
“We have been following the underserved health space in Africa for quite some time. While this is one of the areas on which Africans consumers spend the most, the quality of health outcomes needs to improve. The challenge of bringing affordable and high-quality diagnostics to the actual points of care is yet to be solved.”
