Dr. Sangu Delle, founder, and CEO of CarePoint
Health-tech startup CarePoint has raised $10 million in a bridge financing round. The startup, formerly known as Africa Health Holdings, plans to channel the funds into making healthcare accessible to more Africans as well as fueling its plans for expanding across the continent of Africa.
The bridge funding round was led by TRB Advisors and saw the participation of other investors namely Delle, Breyer Capital, Beyond Capital Ventures (BVC), M3, Inc, Asia Pacific Land/ Natural World Limited, and Alan Waxman, CEO of Sixth Street Partners. The round comes after its Series A funding round which took place last November. The startup raised $18 million in its Series A round.
Currently, the startup is present in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, and most recently Egypt which is recently ventured. According to founder and CEO Dr. Sangu Delle, the startup is currently in the process of setting up telemedicine centers in their facilities and building micro-tech-enabled clinics targeted at the masses. This will expand the startup’s capabilities beyond in-person visits. The startup is also looking at expanding into more North and East African countries and plans to do so with mergers and acquisitions.
Speaking on the micro-clinics, CarePoint’s CEO said that “The micro-clinics will have, at most, 12 employees, including a nurse. The patients will consult with doctors virtually. We are taking this route because we realized that as much as the mobile subscription in Africa is great and growing, if you look at it from an internet penetration perspective, so many people are still locked out because they cannot afford mobile data.”
The founder and CEO went on to add that “These clinics are a way of democratizing access, and taking quality healthcare closer to the people while making it affordable to them too,” he said.
CarePoint’s medical services are also available via a mobile app called MyCareMobile app. Through this app, patients can access various medical services. The startup’s backers include Nigeria’s CarePoint, Egypt’s Sahe, Kenya’s Meridian Health Group, Ghana’s Rabito Clinic, and Lilys Hospital. Cumulatively, they’re operating a total of 65 facilities.
Apart from the aforementioned plans, CarePoint’s CEO also mentioned that a part of the funding will be used to build data science and AI teams which will help strengthen its technological resources. The startup is also looking at launching new products.
“CarePoint is at the forefront of creating solutions through its three core pillars of a scaled network of healthcare facilities, a strong technology backbone, and patient-centered care highlighted by the first Africa-focused healthcare data repository. Beyond Capital Ventures is excited to participate in CarePoint’s Series B bridge round, and will work with Dr. Sangu Delle to scale an emerging technology-driven healthcare system in Africa… CarePoint is capturing demographic shifts to transform Africa into the next frontier for healthcare and transform health outcomes,” Eva Yazhari, a general partner at BVC, said commenting on the startup and the funding round.
