Nigeria’s Remedial Health gets QED backing in $12M round

Remedial Health, a Nigerian startup digitizing pharmacies and bringing ratio to The pharmaceutical worth chain, has raised $12 cardinal Series A equity-debt funding, to standard operations in The West African country.

Fintech VC patient QED Investors co-led The round, banking connected embedded financial opportunities for illustration payments, and lending in The pharmaceutical sector. This is QED’s 3rd finance in Africa aft its engagement in The Moniepoint (formerly TeamApt), and Flapkap deals past year. Ventures Platform, besides co-led The round, which saw The information of existing investors for illustration Y Combinator, Tencent and Gaingels.

Pharmacies and hospitals usage Remedial Health’s level to bid pharmaceutical products originated from reliable and trusted manufacturers and verified distributors. This helps to stem erratic prices, and The proviso of clone and substandard products that are down thousands of preventable deaths in Nigeria, and Africa astatine large. It besides ensures a due handling of The products, which can’t beryllium said of The unfastened narcotics marketplace in Nigeria.

A caller study by Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control estimates that astir 15% of The medicine sold in The state is clone aliases sub-standard. Besides, it is estimated by The United Nations Office connected Drugs and Crime, that half a cardinal group dice in sub-Saharan Africa owing to substandard aliases counterfeit medicine.

Remedial Health gets $4 cardinal indebtedness backing to standard inventory financing

Founded by Samuel Okwuada (CEO), and Victor Benjamin (COO) in 2021, Remedial Health plans to usage The caller backing to deepen its operations in Nigeria. The $4 cardinal indebtedness it has raised will thief it standard its inventory financing.

Okwuada told TechCrunch that privilege astatine The infinitesimal remains connected expanding penetration in 34 states by getting much pharmacies and hospitals signed up, particularly in agrarian areas, wherever request is growing.

“We are seeing much maturation in agrarian areas, because they are difficult to reach, and are acold from awesome unfastened supplier markets in Nigeria,” said Okwuada, adding that The startup presently has a “considerable marketplace share” in astatine slightest half of The 34 of 36 states it operates in wrong Nigeria.

The YC-alumni presently serves complete 5,000 pharmacies and hospitals, having grown its customer count by 3X since November past year. It sources The complete 8,000 products it sells from 300 manufacturers, among them GSK, Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

Its inventory financing, which enables its clients to restock without upfront payment, has helped turn its customer count, and revenues by 7X complete The past 10 months too.

“We are a B2B business and we are capable to supply inventory to these pharmacies without requesting rate up-front, aliases astatine The constituent of delivery… We’ve seen them turn their businesses, unfastened further branches because they are capable to get credit,” said Okwuada.

Remedial’s level enables its customers to negociate their operations including inventory guidance (through an app too), accounting, and financial reporting. It besides provides real-time marketplace intelligence that informs manufacturers connected accumulation and distribution.

Okwuada said its customers person orders wrong 24 hours. The startup has a web of distribution hubs, dispersed crossed The regions it serves, and does last-mile transportation in-house aliases done partners. Other startups bringing ratio in The pharmaceutical worth concatenation see MyDawa, and DrugStoc.

Commenting connected The investment, QED Investors partner, and caput of Africa, Gbenga Ajayi said in a statement: “The occurrence that Remedial Health has enjoyed to day is an denotation of The marketplace spread that exists, and their worth in providing effective holistic services to thousands of pharmacies crossed Nigeria.”

“QED is peculiarly excited astir The embedded financial services opportunities wrong The vertical — The expertise to supply payments, embedded lending and different fintech solutions to this underserved but very important sector.”