Nigerian startup Remedial Health backed by QED raises $12 million in series A equity-debt funding. The funding will help to scale operations in West Africa to digitize efficiency in the pharmaceutical sector.
The fintech VC firm QED Investors led the round, after QED’s involvement with Moniepoint (formerly TeamApt) and Flapkap last year, making this QED’s third time investing in Africa. Ventures Platform also participated in the round with other investors like Y Combinator, Gaingels, and Tencent.
Hospitals and pharmaceuticals use the Remedial Health platform to order products from reliable manufacturers and trusted distributors. This helps to reduce high prices and fake products that cause avoidable deaths in Nigeria and Africa. It ensures that the products are properly handled, unlike the open drug markets in Nigeria.
The Nigeria National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) estimates that 15% of the drugs sold in Nigeria are either fake or substandard, causing half a million deaths in Africa.
Remedial Health’s Scaling Inventory
Founder and CEO Samuel Okwuada and COO Victor Benjamin plan to use the funding to go deep into Nigeria. The funding includes $4 million to help scale inventory. After prioritizing increment in 34 states by getting pharmaceutical companies and hospitals signed up, especially in the rural areas where demand is high.
Fueling Growth
Remedial Health currently has 34 of 36 states in Nigeria. Okwuada said, “We are seeing more growth in rural areas because they are difficult to reach and are far from major open drug markets in Nigeria.”.
The startup now has over 5,000 hospitals and pharmacies and has doubled by 3 times since November last year. The startup sources over 8,000 products and 300 manufacturers like GSK, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca. Helping its clients scale and double their revenues 7 times in 10 months without upfront payments, its clients can restock due to their inventory financing.
The startup has a profound network of distribution hubs across the regions it serves and does in-house delivery. Okwuada said its customers get orders within 24 hours.
QED Investors partner and head of Africa Gbenga Ajayi said, “The success that Remedial Health has enjoyed to date is an indication of the market gap that exists, and their value in providing effective holistic services to thousands of pharmacies across Nigeria.”
“QED is particularly excited about the embedded financial services opportunities within the vertical — the ability to provide payments, embedded lending, and other fintech solutions to this underserved but very crucial sector.”