A group of donors, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and African government institutions supported by the Gates Foundation, known as Investing in Innovation Africa (i3), is set to invest $1.6 million in 15 healthtech startups across Africa. The initiative aims to provide equity-free grants of $50,000 to ten early-stage startups, and up to $225,000 to five early-stage startups addressing healthcare delivery, pharmacy services, and product distribution challenges. i3’s third cohort will select startups with a proven product-market fit and minimum annual revenues of $10,000, while growth-stage companies must showcase national-level operations with revenues of at least $500,000.
This investment comes at a time when venture capital funding in Africa has seen a decline, with healthtech startups receiving the smallest share of funding in the past year, totaling $42.2 million in the first half of 2024.
Supported by global healthcare heavyweights like the Gates Foundation and Sanofi’s Global Health Unit, i3 aims to offer financial, market, and partnership support to 15 African startups to enhance healthcare access. Dr. Uchenna Igbokwe, CEO of SCIDaR, which collaborates with Salient Advisory to coordinate i3, emphasized the potential for African-led companies to scale commercially and reach underserved communities.
Since its inception in 2021, i3 has invested $3 million in 60 startups across 16 African countries. In a previous cohort, i3 provided funding to 29 startups, including Nigerian startups Wella Health, Famasi, and Healthtracka, with a $50,000 equity-free grant. Aside from funding, i3 will offer strategic customer introductions, deal facilitation, and partnership readiness support to startups, with a goal of generating over 150 strategic connections with healthcare organizations, aiming for $30 million in contracts while creating local job opportunities across Africa. The application deadline for the current cohort is February 28, 2025, with the selected startups set to be announced on April 30. A virtual Q&A session is scheduled for February 21 to address queries from potential applicants.