Ilara Health, a Kenyan healthtech startup, has raised $4.2 million in its pre-Series A funding round. The funding, according to the startup, will be used to scale up operations across the country. The round was led by impact investor DOB Equity, with participation from the Philips Foundation, AAIC Investment, Angaza Capital, Black Pearl Investments, Perivoli Innovations, Alphamundi, Kiva Capital, and Boehringer Ingelheim.

Founded in 2019 by Emilian Popa (CEO), Maximilian Mancini, and Sameer Afzal Farooq, Ilara Health aims to improve access to quality healthcare by providing financing and digitization tools to private clinics. The startup enables clinics to acquire medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, and supplies through flexible payment plans. Ilara has also developed practice management software to help clinics digitize operations and reporting.

The funding will support Ilara’s next phase of growth across several key areas:

Expanding B2B Health Services – Ilara plans to launch an occupational health service allowing uninsured workers to access care at partner clinics for a monthly fee. This will expand affordable healthcare access for patients.

Growing Clinic Network – Ilara currently serves 3,000 of Kenya’s 15,000 private clinics but aims to rapidly expand its clinic partnerships. The funding will help Ilara equip more facilities.

Investing in Technology – Ilara will invest in improving its practice management software and other digital tools to increase efficiency.

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“This funding enables us to scale our model of empowering private healthcare providers with innovative tools to improve primary care access and affordability,” said Ilara CEO and Co-Founder Emilian Popa. “We ultimately want to reshape healthcare delivery across Africa.”

The funding round brings Ilara’s total raised to $11.7 million and positions the company for rapid pan-African expansion. Early investors praised Ilara’s technology-driven approach and mission to close healthcare access gaps at the community level.

With this capital injection, Ilara Health is poised to advance its goal of making quality primary healthcare accessible and affordable for millions more Africans.