SA healtech Aviro Health secures pre-series A funding

SA healthtech Aviro Health has successfully closed a pre-series A funding round led by the Edge Growth managed ASISA ESD Fund, Tuksnovation, and TIA. The funds will go into improving and expanding Aviro Pocket Clinic – a digital counseling service empowering patients with accessible and engaging counseling and linkage to services via phones or other devices.

Over the past two years, Aviro Pocket Clinic has assisted 50,000 patients to access healthcare in Kenya and South Africa. Validated by leading healthcare providers such as UCT, ITS, and John Hopkins. The digital health self-care platform helps patients achieve favorable health outcomes through well-crafted medical content delivered through a multi-channel platform.

In the press release, Dr. Musaed Abrahams, CEO Aviro Health revealed that the funding will allow them to expand the flexibility and scalability of the service. Alex Rodrigues from Edge Growth pointed out how the ASISA ESD Fund is “excited” to partner in Aviro Health’s “mission and journey.” Phindile Tshabangu at Tuksnovation also shared that Aviro Health was one of their first investments from their seed fund, describing them as “an early success story of our incubation programme.”

Healthtech investments across Africa have skyrocketed thanks to opportunities provided by Covid-19 as per a report published by Quartz Africa in March. In 2020, healthtech investments yielded $106.7 million across 62 funding rounds – representing 12% of all disclosed rounds.

While many entrepreneurs express interest in the healthtech space, there exist limited partnerships among industry players such as distributors, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and technology companies.

Babob Insights reports a raise of $77.1 million between H2 of 2020 and H1 2021. We have however seen the adoption of new delivery models such as telemedicine and direct-to-consumer (D2C) delivery channels into their offering. Leading e-commerce startups have shown strategic interest in the sector with notable brands like Konga, Copia, and Jumia now offering over-the-counter products directly on their platforms.

The companies we partner with believe in the ability of technology to change the global healthcare landscape.

We're proud to be a part of this journey. Learn more about the work we do and visit our site 👉🏽 https://t.co/VgJsaEB4WY pic.twitter.com/vEJ1W3ZqUs

— Aviro (@AviroHealth) September 15, 2021