Program funded in part by an independent educational grant from Pfizer’s Institute of Translational Equitable Medicine (ITEM)
Villgro Africa, with a generous financial support in the form of an independent educational grant from Pfizer’s Institute of Translational Equitable Medicine (ITEM) is thrilled to announce the launch of the East Africa Biosciences Studio Initiative. This transformative initiative is a first of its kind in the region by promoting African localization of biopharma value chains whereby researchers and innovators are empowered to use African-sourced genomic data to generate commercially viable data and inventions that target regional and global markets which may help advance global health equity.
Through this Studio initiative, we aim to catalyse breakthroughs in science and technology by fostering multidisciplinary and multidimensional collaboration among leading researchers and innovators. Together, we will address the urgent need for enhanced accuracy, accessibility, and personalisation of cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Recent genomic advancements have revolutionised our understanding of cancer biology, presenting new opportunities for early intervention. For this initiative, selected participants are being asked to develop innovative solutions, including policy innovations and biotech innovations such as identifying biomarkers, genetic signatures, and molecular pathways associated with cancer, and using cutting-edge technologies to integrate genomic data with advanced computational tools for precision diagnosis and treatment.
Pfizer’s independent educational grant will support the winning teams for three-month innovation fellowship at the East Africa Biosciences Studio that is jointly hosted by Villgro Africa and The Africa Genome Centre and Consultancy Ltd (TAGCC) in Nairobi, Kenya and started in September 2024.
We are proud to welcome the support from Pfizer’s Institute of Translational Equitable Medicine that brings not just financial resources but deep sector expertise in product discovery and development to support the cohort of The East Africa Biosciences Studio innovators to realize their potential. By fostering a robust ecosystem for life science startups, we are empowering scientists and engineers to develop solutions that address Africa’s most pressing healthcare challenges, including cancer.
We are also grateful for the continued support of our partners TAGCC, The Lemelson Foundation, Kenya National Innovation Agency (KeNIA) and the Coalition for Health Research & Development (CHReaD).
Villgro Africa and partners have announced the awardees of their Artificial Intelligence for Health (AI4H) funding call, with the recipients of grant funding and incubation support including the following companies:
Anchored through the financial support of IDRC and AI4D, multiple partners came together with the aim of uncovering African AI-enabled healthcare solutions and innovations that could be instrumental in catalysing emerging innovation ecosystems towards responsible development of technology while strengthening the capacity of African innovators with regards to scaling their impact and improving health outcomes.
As part of the initiative, beneficiaries will receive funding and participate in an innovation boot camp and an acceleration program. These have been organised to support the selected entrepreneurial AI practitioners to develop innovative and commercially viable products and services.
In 2021, a similar call was launched and the significant learnings from that program have informed the support that will be offered to the current cohort. In the months ahead, each company will go through a needs assessment to understand support areas, followed by an acceleration plan and milestone setting. The execution of the acceleration plan and a series of training sessions from the various partners, each company being assisted by a company manager. There will then be an assessment at the end of the program to evaluate progress.
Rology – “Rology Connect” offers a zero-setup cost, an end-to-end, high-quality, and integrated teleradiology solution to the diagnostic imaging facilities in the MEA region, especially in the underserved healthcare communities and distant geographical areas.
Intixel – A web-based CAD software system for breast cancer detection in screening mammography. The solution seamlessly integrates with the PACS system in hospitals, supply initial diagnosis markups and draft reports to the image data from the imaging modality
Neural Labs Africa – Using Deep Learning and Computer Vision technology to enhance medical images for radiologists and hospitals in real time to identify diseases such as Pneumonia, TB, and lung cancer. By this, the solution empowers doctors to aid accurate diagnoses.
Sophie Bot – Sophie Bot is an artificial intelligence persona to answer users’ questions on sexual health. Think of her as “Siri for sexual health”. We take great care to feed her with curated verified information from our partner/investor UNFPA Kenya.
Palindrome Data – Predictive/analytic AI models that facilitate triage of HIV patients who need more support and those who need less intensive support. The algorithms do this by identifying characteristics of patients that are likely to cause adverse health outcomes
Wekebere – Using machine learning, the innovation allows for improved healthcare delivery by enhancing early detection of foetal well-being, thus increasing mother and infant safety, preventing maternal and neonatal morbidities, and lowering healthcare costs.
Vectorgram Health – Early diagnosis of breast Cancer using an AI model, Deep Neural Networks trained on augmented Mammography datasets to execute scalable Computer Vision inference accessible anywhere in the world on an online platform
Diagnosoft – Accurate (93%), fast African focused AI powered diagnostic tool that assists radiologists in accurate diagnosis, reducing the turnaround time, automating and streamlining workflow. It’s tested using African data to reduce biasness on the African population
The Pathology Network – Connecting doctors, hospitals and the patients they serve to a global network of pathologists. Leveraging technology to enable doctors to order patient’s tests, tests samples are picked, processing arranged, and the samples distributed to a network of pathologists for reporting.
Saratani AI – A more flexible and user-friendly cervical cancer diagnostic device made using Deep-learning techniques, trained with quite a large cervical PAP smear cytological image with plans of making it offline. The model can be replicated to diagnose other forms of cancer
Villgro Africa is an incubator and impact investor supporting emerging healthcare businesses in Africa, offering emerging companies a personalised incubation experience to help effectively scale ideas and navigate the African startup ecosystem.
The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) champions and funds research and innovation within and alongside developing regions to drive global change.
AI4D Africa’s mission is to improve the quality of life for all in Africa and beyond by partnering with Africa’s science and policy communities to leverage AI through high-quality research, responsible innovation and talent strengthening.
Johnson & Johnson Impact Impact Ventures supports a global portfolio of early-stage companies and partners working to accelerate access to affordable and quality healthcare for all.
NVIDIA has pioneered accelerated computing to tackle challenges no one else can solve. Their work in AI and the metaverse is transforming the world’s largest industries and profoundly impacting society.
Africa Oxford Initiative supports the provision of an enabling environment for researchers and students that is conducive for entrepreneurship, innovation and research leadership.
Siemens Healthineers has a portfolio of products, services and solutions that is at the centre of clinical decision-making and treatment pathways. They pioneer breakthroughs in healthcare for everyone, everywhere.
I-DAIR strives to improve access to cutting-edge research on digital health and artificial intelligence for clinical researchers, policymakers and patients worldwide, with particular attention to the Global South.
Women at the Table breaks down barriers to systems change so that women and girls are able to fully and actively participate and influence the world’s social, political and economic spheres.
The Female-Led Health Tech Startups in Ghana call, a collaboration between Villgro Africa and Ghana Tech Lab, is seeking startups in the Ghanian health tech space that have at least one woman in their leadership team to apply for the opportunity to receive incubation and funding support.
The startup and innovation sector is currently very male dominated, with women having access to only 20% of traditional funding paths, representing a gap of more than $40 billion. Both Villgro Africa and GTL are committed to playing a part in correcting these imbalances. It has become clear that gender balanced teams are more effective, more sustainable, with greater returns on investment. Additionally, women should not be overlooked as consumers. Having a female perspective in product and service development means more effectively meeting the needs of half of the world’s population.
In addition to grant funding, beneficiaries of this call will receive 12 months of incubation support from both the Villgro Africa and GTL teams, including business modelling, product development, operations, investment readiness, and governance and regulatory affairs.
Villgro Africa is an early-stage business incubator and impact investor that supports health and life science start-ups on the African continent to transform product and process innovations into viable, scalable businesses that impact the base of the economic pyramid. The incubation program de-risks impact investment for global health technology and service companies, supporting them to become investable ventures. Villgro’s multidisciplinary team has deep sector expertise spanning the startup spectrum, from business and product development to manufacturing and financial modelling.
Ghana Tech Lab (GTL) works with ecosystem partners to drive tech innovations and advance digital transformation in Ghana through skills training and providing innovative entrepreneurs access to early-stage funding, mentorship, investors, relevant businesses, and technical support under our incubation program. It is established under the Ministry of Communications Ghana’s E-transform project with funding from the World Bank. Through a collaborative effort, the work of GTL also supports the ambition, creativity, and skills of young people in Ghana under the Pathway to Sustainable Employment (PaSE) Project in partnership with Mastercard Foundation. GTL provides a platform for taking simple ideas and turning them into successful startups. Their unique programs and curriculum are designed to take things from the idea stage and develop them into products or services that address a societal need.
For more information and to apply, please visit https://vc4a.com/villgro-africa/female-led-health-tech-startups-in-ghana/.
June 22, 2022. Lagos, Nigeria. Healthcare consulting firm Salient Advisory has launched its latest market intelligence report highlighting promising African healthtech start-ups in supply chain. Spurred by these findings, a consortium of global and continental organizations, with funding from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, are pleased to announce the launch of a pan-African initiative to support companies’ impact, access to markets and commercialization.
Salient’s report, titled ‘Innovations in Digitising Distribution of Health Products’, highlights more than 80 healthtech innovators in Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, and Nigeria. Tech-enabled approaches to digitizing medicine distribution to underserved pharmacies, drug shops, clinics and hospitals, pioneered by companies such as Lifestores, Maisha Meds and Shelf Life, recorded rapid growth in the past year, mirroring trends seen in B2B e-commerce on the African continent. Innovators are also demonstrating an increasing interest in powering rural supply chains, improving availability of medicines, and bolstering resiliency of supply chain operations.
Investor interest has also been strong; 36% of all-time funding reported by health care supply chain innovators profiled was raised in the last 12 months. However, exclusionary funding trends remain entrenched: only 2% of recent funding was raised by Black, women founders, a total of just $1.6 million in 2021.
Inspired by the progress and potential of African innovators in supply chain, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, alongside Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), the World Health Organisation Regional Office for Africa, AUDA-NEPAD and AmerisourceBergen, are launching a $7 million pan-African initiative to provide 60 promising early and growth-stage companies with risk-tolerant grants alongside commercialization support to power their impact at scale. The program, called Investing in Innovation (i3), is coordinated by Salient Advisory, SCIDaR, and SouthBridge A&I and is operationalized with CCHub, Startupbootcamp, IMPACT Lab, and Villgro Africa. Applications for the first cohort of 30 companies are open now, at www.innovationsinafrica.com. Applications will close in mid- August.
“African health innovators have shown increasing capacity to leverage technology to optimize supply chains and advance access to medicines. Such local innovations have the potential to change how supply chains and health systems function – and it is time to support them. We are pleased to be collaborating with strong global and continental partners to jointly strengthen African health systems, and accelerate progress towards universal health coverage.”
“There has been considerable progress in tech-driven innovation in health product distribution across Africa. Spurring and scaling disruptive innovation in health supply chain is key to expanding access to medicines for all. That’s why we, at MSD, are excited to collaborate on the i3 program.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the capacity of African innovators to leverage tech- enabled solutions to transform medicine distribution. AUDA-NEPAD will continue to leverage its mandate and comparative advantage to foster partnerships that strengthen evidence, deploy innovation, enhance policy environments and facilitate critical investments, while creating valuable and high-impact jobs across the continent.”
“There has been considerable progress over the past year as supply chain innovations work to enhance access to quality medicines. Our report provides investors, donors, and governments with actionable recommendations on engagement strategies to advance companies’ growth and impact. With funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and along with our esteemed partners, we are excited to be launching the Investing in Innovation program to connect promising companies to customers who can power their impact and scale.”
To download the full market intelligence report, please click here.
Start-ups working in health product distribution across Africa are invited to apply for the program here.
Three healthcare startups in East Africa have each been awarded $50,000 in seed funding for winning the Frontline Health Worker (FLHW) Healthcare Innovation Challenge organized by Villgro Africa in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Impact Ventures (J&J Impact Ventures), a Johnson & Johnson Foundation investment fund. Launched in October 2021, the Challenge called on early-stage companies working to strengthen the capacity of FLHWs while improving access and quality of care in East Africa. After a thorough due-diligence process, Bena Care, Streamline and Zuri Health have been selected among the applicants to receive funding and incubation and advisory support.
Bena Care is a Kenyan company providing home-based care, working to reduce the cost and increase the quality of healthcare, especially for the elderly and those with life-limiting illnesses. The company contracts healthcare workers, offering nursing, caregiving and physiotherapy services that are provided at the patient’s home. Along with improving care for patients, this provides an opportunity for FLHWs to gain access to alternative revenue sources. Bena Care also has a platform for buying and selling second-hand, used, home-based care equipment at more affordable prices.
“Bena Care is incredibly honored by the support that we are set to receive from the FLHW Healthcare Innovation Challenge. This will enable us to increase our lease of knowledge, expertise and resources available to make our services better and reach a greater audience. We believe that all of this, together with other opportunities to collaborate and increased overall brand awareness and equity, will skyrocket our business to greater heights in a few years.” – Naom Monari, Co-Founder and CEO of Bena Care
Streamline is an IT company in Uganda that leverages artificial intelligence to enable people at the bottom of the economic pyramid to access quality and affordable healthcare. They provide three primary products: (1) Stre@mline HMIS, a fully integrated health management information system; (2) Stre@mline SNAP, which anonymizes, aggregates and analyzes data for medical research and early epidemic warnings; and (3) Stre@mline Ubuntu, a digital insurance platform. Their Stre@mline HMIS system supports FLHWs by guiding them with suggested tips and next steps based on the information they put in the system.
“We are so excited about this support from J&J Impact Ventures and Villgro Africa. This will go a long way in supporting our scaling efforts to ensure that every patient can access and receive quality healthcare. Most of the funds will be used to do wide scale marketing and sales as we build toward sustainability and scaling. We hope to grow from the current 35 health facilities we support to more than 100 health facilities and to serve more 1,000,000 people from the current 650,000 that we currently serve.” – Samuel Mugisha, Co-Founder and Director of Streamline
Zuri Health is a virtual hospital that is seeking to democratize access to healthcare in Africa. They link patients with quality, affordable and accessible healthcare services across Sub-Saharan Africa. Patients can gain access to a wide range of medical services through Zuri Health’s digital platforms, including their mobile app, website or via SMS. Zuri Health provides FLHWs with an easy way to manage their bookings and access to additional revenue sources.
“At Zuri Health we believe that great collaborations help foster growth and innovation for any startup. In healthcare, where access is poor in Africa, there is an even greater need to collaborate with organizations that understand our mission. Villgro Africa’s incubation and advisory services will help the Zuri Health team access resources that staff can use to develop their skills capacity, while the funding will help ensure that we continue to provide top-notch services when it comes to democratizing healthcare access in Africa as we expand to more markets, acquire more talent and develop our internal strategies.” – Daisy Isiaho, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Zuri Health
Villgro Africa, an incubator and impact investor supporting emerging healthcare businesses in Africa, launched this Challenge with J&J Impact Ventures, to support FLHWs, who are the backbone of any effective health system. They are often embedded in the community, take on significant personal risk and demonstrate resilience and creativity, yet they are rarely adequately appreciated for the work they do. The Challenge was looking for viable businesses that addressed some of the primary challenges that FLHWs face while also enabling them to provide high-quality healthcare to the populations they serve.
“This collaboration between Villgro Africa and J&J Impact Ventures comes at a critical point when Africa is racing towards achievement of universal health coverage (UHC). FLHWs are a key pillar to UHC as they are the first line of contact with patients. We all witnessed first-hand the heroism of FLHWs when the pandemic hit in 2019. It thus gives us an opportunity to reinvest in these unsung heroes through technologies and platforms that will make their work easier. In addition to funding, Villgro Africa will offer technical assistance to the three winners to bolster their capacity as they go out to empower FLHWs.” – Wilfred Njagi, Co-Founder and CEO of Villgro Africa
Each of the companies awarded demonstrated a strong business case, an understanding of the problems they are seeking to solve and a strong team of innovative entrepreneurs. For more information on each of these companies, please reach out to Villgro Africa at [email protected] or see their websites below: