Nigerian healthtech startup, Remedial Health, has raised $12 million in Series A funding — $8 million in equity and $4 million in debt — to expand the reach of its services in the country.
The company will also use the funds to support the delivery of targeted financial services to drive business growth across Nigeria’s pharmaceutical sector.
QED Investors and Ventures Platform co-led the equity funding round. While this is the former’s second investment in an African startup, the latter has invested in Remedial Health since the pre-seed stage. It is also Ventures Platform's first Series A investment.
Gaingels, Tencent, and Ycombinator participated after taking part in earlier rounds.
A consortium of local and international financial institutions led the $4 million debt financing.
Launched in 2022 by Samuel Okwuada (CEO) and Victor Benjamin (COO), Remedial Health is a tech startup digitising the pharmaceutical supply chain. The B2B company provides software for pharmacies and hospitals to manage their inventory and sales.
The company helps pharmacies source pharmaceutical products for their shelves from major manufacturers and distributors, including GSK, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Emzor, and Fidson Healthcare.
It also offers inventory financing to pharmacies or hospitals that lack the necessary funds to purchase needed drugs.
For pharmaceutical manufacturers, Remedial Health provides an effective route-to-market for their products and data-driven insights into local markets that they can leverage for more effective planning and decision-making.
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Remedial also has an online shop that allows pharmacy owners who do not use its software to place orders via its mobile app.
Store owners can use the mobile app to access over 8,000 vetted products, with same-day delivery and inventory financing to reduce cash-flow friction for routine orders and maximise sales opportunities.
When Remedial announced its $4.4 million seed funding in September 2022, Okwuada revealed that the startup was already operating in 16 states of Nigeria and had plans to spread to the rest of the country.
Now, the company says it works with over 300 manufacturers and serves over 5,000 hospitals, pharmacies, and Proprietary Patent Medicine Vendors (PPMVs) across 34 of Nigeria's 36 states.
When asked how the company had expanded into most states in Nigeria in less than a year, the CEO said he observed the country and now understands how the business works. He added that the company wanted to reach as many people as possible.
Further, he stated while the company distributes in all 36 states, it hasn't hired staff in two locations.
Meanwhile, achieving that came with challenges, and Okwuada described it as a “logistical nightmare.”
"Moving an item on the road is a logistical nightmare, from finding a third-party partner — if you need one — to poor roads to the removal of fuel subsidies, resulting in an increase in fuel to consumers that you cannot pass on 100%, to law enforcement on the road who are there to demand extortion."
However, he claims that the company understands the challenge and knows how the country works, albeit not completely, but to a high enough level that it can successfully distribute across all states.
Since receiving seed funding, the company has increased its headcount by twofold, its revenue by five times, and its customer base by three times.
What's more, Remedial plans to expand its existing offerings with new services, including payments and primary healthcare services like doctor visits or remote diagnostics.
