Kenya’s Ilara Health receives $4.2 million in support to expand clinic support services

Image credits: irara health

Ilara Health, a Kenya-based medical technology company that helps private clinics access diagnostic equipment and medicines, has secured $4.2 million in debt capital in a pre-Series A round. The funding will help scale operations in the East African country and develop B2B medical and vocational services that allow uninsured workers to receive treatment at a network of partner clinics for a fixed monthly fee. will be used to deepen healthcare access to the masses. commission.

The $2.5 million equity round was led by DOB Equity, with participation from the Phillips Foundation and existing investors including AAIC Investment, Angaza Capital, Black Pearl Investments, and Perivoli Innovations. Debt investments were made by Alphamundi, Kiva Capital and Boehringer Ingelheim. The new round brings the total amount of debt, equity and grants secured by the startup to $11.7 million.

Ilara Health began in 2019 by leasing diagnostic equipment to clinics, but has since expanded to allowing health centers to purchase items such as medicines and hospital furniture on credit. Emilian Popa, co-founder and CEO of Ilara, told TechCrunch that this strategic move will ensure that private healthcare providers are better equipped to provide high-quality primary care to patients. He said he is now able to run a clinic.

“In Kenya, quality of care is the issue, not access, and our goal since we launched has been to improve the standard of care. or unable to perform simple procedures due to lack of furniture. In this way, over time, we become the provider or funder of all clinic needs. ,” said Popa, who co-founded Ilara with Maximilian Mancini (co-CEO) and Sameer Afzal Farouk (COO).

Ilala Health leverages Kenya's private healthcare sector, which is a preferred alternative for those with health insurance or who can afford to pay out of pocket. This is in opposition to government-run facilities, which continue to struggle due to lack of investment. The country's current leaders hope to improve health care delivery, facilitated by a new health financing program that promises to change the way public health care is accessed and delivered. However, it may take some time before they are fully equipped to handle the surge in demand.

Mr Popa said Ilala services 3,000 clinics across Kenya and estimates that 15,000 of these clinics are operating in the country. These clinics are often established within residential areas, are easily accessible, and are a better but more expensive alternative to public facilities where equipment sometimes breaks down, paralyzing service delivery, and where immediate treatment is not guaranteed. It becomes.

To equip clinics, the startup has partnered with various manufacturers, including America's Butterfly Network, to provide devices such as low-cost portable ultrasound tools, Popa said. , which will help bring scanning services within reach of targeted customers.

The startup also provides monthly subscription-based practice management software (KSh.1000) to practices. [$6.25 per today’s exchange rate]), digitize your operations and better manage your business.

“They can view balance sheets, record patient data and keep track of patient progress. They can also report to the Ministry of Health at the touch of a button. We now have visibility into the situation,” he said, adding that the data will be used for credit ratings to support plans to loan up to $15,000 for working capital.

Ilara Health's next phase of growth will see it double its reach to patients through B2B medical and vocational services, through which it partners with employers to give employees access to a variety of outpatient services at partner clinics. I plan to do so.

“Where we live, only 2.7% of Kenyans have private insurance and even NHIF (National Health Insurance) does not adequately cover outpatient treatment. “We are building a patient model and are now reaching out to patients to complete the cycle,” says the co-founder of Ilala Health, after years of working in management consulting in Africa and then in the technology and startup ecosystem. said Mr. Popa. Before launching Ilara Health, Popa worked as an investor at his DiGame. DiGame is a currently fully-funded Africa-focused fund and a subsidiary of UK private equity firm Zouk Capital.