By Adedapo Adesanya
Leading Ghanaian healthtech startup, mPharma, has announced the closure of a $17 million funding round that will help it expand its foothold in Africa.
The company is known for improving access of medicine to patients, pharmacies, and hospitals through innovative inventory financing solutions.
The business operates on the approach of stocking pharmacy shelves without demanding any upfront payment. Lower prices are achieved through collective bargaining with the help of its network and also by using aggregative and predictive data analysis.
The startup began operations in 2013 with the cooperation of its founders; Daniel Shoukimas, Gregory Rockson, and James Finucane.
Now, with the fresh funding, mPharma said it will channeled it to its Vendor Management Inventory (VMI) and QualityRx platforms in Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Zambia.
Last year, the startup secured both a $12 million and a $6.6 million investment in a Series A back in 2017.
Thus far, the health-tech startup has raised over $40 million. Upon securing the Series B round funds in 2019, the firm bought Haltons, which is Kenya’s second-largest pharmacy chain. At that time, their outlets were at 17, but have now increased to 30.
The investors responsible for the latest round of capital infusion are the CDC Group and the United Kingdom’s development finance arm.
Other investors already involved with the brand are Mr Jim Breyer, Mr Daniel Vasella, and Dompe Holdings.
Speaking on the new investors, one of the founders, Mr Rockson, was upbeat over their partnership with CDC as they are a Development Finance Institution with extensive government contacts across Africa.
The funding has also brought the appointment of Ms Helena Foulkes to the company board. She is the former CEO of Hudson Bay Company (HBC), and prior to that, she served as the president of CVS Pharmacy.
Other members on the board are Mr Daniel Vasella, former Chairman and CEO of Novartis, Mr Philip Sowah, former CEO of Airtel Ghana, Mr Walter Baddo, 4DX managing partner, and Mr Andrew Carruthers, the MD of Novastar, among others.
On the mPharma website, it proudly boasted of a presence in 5 African countries, 50 hospitals, 200 pharmacies, and over 400,000 patients.
Aduragbemi Omiyale