Kenya-based mobile health payments firm CarePay International, which connects millions of users with healthcare providers in Kenya and Nigeria, has raised a $45 million Series A funding round from Dutch investors focused on healthcare inclusion in Africa.
CarePay digitally connects health players including insurers, users and providers on a single mobile app, allowing them to communicate and make transactions in real time.
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In 2016, CarePay International launched its mobile health payments platform in Kenya in partnership with East Africa’s biggest mobile operator, Safaricom and the PharmAccess Group, Technext reports.
At the time, Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore CarePay could do for healthcare inclusion what M-Pesa has done for financial inclusion, according to Techmoran.
In 2018, World Economic Forum recognized CarePay as a technology pioneer for designing, developing and deploying new technologies that have a significant impact on society, according to AllAfrica.
CarePay connects millions of people to its platform that would otherwise be excluded from quality healthcare services in Africa. More than 4 million users interact with 1,200 healthcare providers through this system, Verdict reports.
The $45 million investment comes from the Investment Fund For Health In Africa, a Dutch private equity fund focused on healthcare investments, and impact investor ELMA Investments, a private equity fund that invests in private sector health care providers serving low- to middle-income populations.
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs also participated in the investment through the PharmAccess Group, according to ITWebAfrica.
PharmAccess is a Dutch organization focused on making healthcare financing and delivery more effective and inclusive in Africa.
It was founded in 2001 by Joep Lange to bring life-saving antiretroviral therapy for HIV/AIDS treatment to Africa. It’s mandate has since changed to focus on healthcare financing and access in general.
It partnered with CarePay when it launched its platform with Safaricom.
Safaricom operates popular mobile money service M-Pesa, which makes it possible for people to make and receive payments using a mobile phone.
The injection of capital will be used to expand the mobile health payments platform in Nigeria and launch in Tanzania.
The firm has offices in Nairobi and Amsterdam. The company’s five-person board includes three Black members, one of whom is a woman.
Half of the executive team is Black, with one member of Indian descent, and three women in the group. The remaining four management members are white males, including founder Michiel Slootweg and CEO Kees Van Lede, according to the company.
