Reliance Health, a Nigerian-based healthtech startup, has completed its series B fundraising round, raking in $40 million worth of investment.
The company, which was founded by Femi Kuti, Opeyemi Olumekun, and Matthew Mayaki, said it would use the funds raised to help facilitate its expansion into emerging markets around the world, and also add to its product suite.
Reliance Health partners with hospitals and healthcare facilities to provide health insurance, and telemedicine – through an integrated process.
“Our mission is super simple. I mean, the definition is simple, but the execution is sometimes more difficult than that. So essentially, what we’re trying to do is to use technology to make quality health care accessible and affordable in emerging markets,” Femi Kuti told TechCrunch.
The startup began operation in 2015 with the name Kangpe, before it mutated into a single-fee healthcare provider to better serve its patients.
“Back then, for example, if a patient chats with this doctor and he recommends an x-ray checkup, or after that, a surgery, what happens next? We weren’t able to manage all those (end-to-end) processes, and that necessitated sort of a soft pivot from the whole telemedicine focus thing to this integrated healthcare provider that we’re doing today,” Femi Kuti said.
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The series B fundraising round was led by US-based General Atlantic, with further participations coming from investors like: Partech, Picus Capital, Tencent Exploration, Asia Africa Investment and Consulting (AAIC), P1 Ventures, Laerdal Million Lives Fund, M3, Inc., and Arvantis Social Foundation.
Speaking on the investment, Chris Caulkin, managing director of General Atlantic, and Head of EMEA Technology, said in a statement:
“General Atlantic is thrilled to announce our first technology investment in Africa in Reliance Health, backing a team focused on improving healthcare quality for millions of patients in Nigeria and abroad. We have been consistently impressed by Femi and Ope, who exemplify the entrepreneurialism and innovation we see across the African continent.”
According to a report by TechCrunch, Reliance Health has over 200,000 individuals subscribed to its services. It also has about 600 business customers, including Biersdorf Nivea, Jumia, and PwC,
Reliance Health had in 2017, raised $2m and $6m in its seed, and series A fundraising round, respectively.