The Venture Codex

Led · Series A · Mar 2024

MDaaS Global is a Nigerian health tech company operating tech-enabled diagnostic centers that provide imaging (digital x-ray, ultrasound), cardiac services (ECG, echo) and a range of lab services from chemistry to immunoassay and hematology. Its BeaconOS platform serves as the operating system for its centers, and the company also offers products like SentinelX (now focused on B2B corporate screenings), Olewerk to optimize workflows, and Beam for occupational-health management. The company currently runs 17 diagnostic centers across 10 states and plans to construct an additional 23 centers to extend coverage to all Nigerian states via company-owned and affiliate clinics. MDaaS has an integrated care network of over 1,300 referring clinicians across more than 1,000 organizations and connections to 34 HMOs. Since inception the startup has served over 275,000 patients (108,724 in the past year), conducted over 240,000 diagnostic tests, and reports that 60.8% of patients in the past year were women. MDaaS Global runs tech-enabled, centralized diagnostic centers that aggregate demand from small and medium hospitals to offer imaging (digital x-ray, ultrasound), cardiac (ECG, echo) and lab services (chemistry, immunoassay, hematology). The company built its model after importing and servicing secondary medical equipment and shifting to a centralized diagnostic-centre aggregation approach to reduce capital burdens on individual clinics. MDaaS has served over 40,000 patients and performed more than 80,000 diagnostic tests, with 750 clinicians in its referral network and partnerships with 500+ health facilities and 10 HMO networks. It recently launched SentinelX, a personalized-care screening program (private beta) that charges a one-time N35k (~$70) annual fee and offers panels of roughly 60–70 biomarkers plus clinical and family-history analysis; the product planned a public launch in September 2021. The company targets low- to middle-income patients and emphasizes cost-customized diagnostic infrastructure while training younger doctors to mitigate brain drain. MDaaS plans to add six more diagnostic centers this year and aims to operate 100 centers across Africa and serve one million patients per year by 2025. MDaaS Global builds and operates diagnostic centres in Nigeria offering services such as digital x-ray, ultrasound, mammography, chemistry analysis, immunoassay and hematology. The startup was founded in 2016 and is led by CEO Oluwasoga Oni, CFO Genevieve Barnard Oni, supply chain manager Joe McCord and Nigeria country manager Opeyemi Ologun. It has participated in accelerator and incubation programs including Techstors Impact and the Harvard Innovation Labs Venture Incubation Programme. Last year the company raised $100,000 from Nigerian VC Ventures Platform. The company recently filed an SEC disclosure showing ongoing equity fundraising activity and has not provided public comment on the deal details. MDaaS Global operates tech-enabled low-cost medical diagnostic and primary care centers aimed at expanding access to affordable healthcare in Africa. The company was founded in 2016 by Oluwasoga Oni, Genevieve Barnard Oni, Joe McCord and Opeyemi Ologun. Its first centre in Ibadan reached breakeven after five months of operation and the company reported revenue growth of 500% since January. MDaaS has pursued validation and support through programs including Techstars Impact and the Harvard Innovation Labs Venture Incubation Programme. The team emphasizes building a scalable network of clinics to serve a broad set of consumers regardless of income level. These operational milestones underpin the company’s growth strategy and attractiveness to investors.

Led · Equity · Dec 2023

Chefaa operates a patient‑focused pharmacy benefits platform that simplifies ordering, scheduling, and refilling recurring insured and non‑insured prescriptions for users and stakeholders in the healthcare chain. The company was founded in 2017 by Drs. Doaa Aref and Rasha Rady and is led by CEO Doaa Aref. Chefaa currently links over one million active users each month to more than 1,100 pharmacies across Saudi Arabia and Egypt. It is operational in eight Saudi cities following a successful launch there and is pursuing faster regional growth. The recent $5.25 million funding is intended to propel expansion and accelerate growth in Saudi Arabia. Management emphasizes designing new services and measuring Chefaa’s impact as it scales. Chefaa is an Egyptian on-demand medicine delivery platform that allows patients to order prescriptions and other products from pharmacies. The company was founded in 2017 by Dr Rasha Rady and Doaa Aref. It has launched a white-label product and plans to use new funding to grow its operations team and to launch a B2B service serving SMEs. The recently announced round was described only as a seven-figure dollar investment; the exact amount was not disclosed. Earlier funding includes investments announced in August last year from 500 Startups and Flat6Labs, and Crunchbase records $304,000 raised across two prior rounds. Vision Ventures said the investment will help expand services to improve availability of basic medicines and personal care products in the region.

Participated · Seed · Nov 2023

Waspito is a Cameroonian healthtech platform that functions like a social network for healthcare, letting users instantly connect with verified doctors over video. The service also arranges home sample collection by partner laboratory technicians and delivers medication, and integrates with hospitals for continued care. Patients can pay through multiple options, including insurance, and join anonymous disease support groups on the platform. Founded by Jean Lobe Lobe at the start of 2020, Waspito emphasizes instant consultations rather than scheduled bookings to improve access. The startup reports about 650,000 users, 950 onboarded doctors and 60,000 consultations to date. It is piloting a hybrid model of mini-clinics in Ivory Coast (within La Poste branches) to reach offline patients and plans rollouts in Cameroon and Senegal, while eyeing Senegal and Gabon for further expansion; it recently secured a $2.5M seed extension to support scaling.

Participated · Series A · Sep 2023

Complete Farmer uses digital technology to build a more efficient agricultural supply chain for smallholder farmers in West Africa. The company offers a digital platform that connects more than 12,000 smallholder farmers directly to global food buyers and agricultural input suppliers. It also invests in the infrastructure required to strengthen the agricultural value chain and address issues such as limited market access, fragmented value chains, and inconsistent product quality. Founded in 2017, Complete Farmer aims to overcome these obstacles and boost agricultural expertise for its farmers. The firm is pursuing innovation and productivity improvements to provide smallholders with more stable incomes and stronger rural livelihoods. Recently it received a $5m (€4.3m) debt investment to support these efforts. Complete Farmer operates an end-to-end agricultural marketplace that links thousands of Ghanaian smallholder and commercial farmers to global buyers via two products: CF Grower (farmer-facing precision farming and cultivation protocols) and CF Buyer (buyer-facing procurement and quality-certified sourcing). The company leverages proprietary cultivation protocols and precision tools to help farmers meet global commodity specifications and reduce post-harvest losses. Since launching in 2017, Complete Farmer says it has organized over 12,000 farmers across five regions and overseen cultivation on more than 30,000 acres, taking a 30% commission on trade profits. The business has eight fulfillment centers in Ghana and plans to expand domestic operations and open centers in markets such as Togo. New product lines under development include an embedded finance remittance product and a vendor platform for inputs; management intends to use equity funding to scale products, form strategic partnerships, and grow the team. The company will use the debt facility for CAPEX and working capital to expand fulfillment capacity. Complete Farmer operates an agribusiness marketplace focused on Ghana’s under‑financed and under‑resourced smallholder farmers. The platform seeks to boost smallholders by linking them to buyers, financing and aggregation services. The company used a $50,000 cash prize from a pitch competition to help scale its operations to the point where venture funding became an option. Last March Complete Farmer secured a $400,000 seed round backed by Africa‑focused venture fund Ingressive Capital. The startup’s fundraising occurred amid a broader scarcity of agrifoodtech capital in Ghana, where agrifoodtech received only about $3 million of the roughly $160 million invested across Africa in the prior year. No operating metrics or revenues were disclosed in the article.

Participated · Seed · Aug 2022

Lami Technologies builds an end-to-end digital insurance platform and a product-agnostic API that lets banks, e-commerce and logistics firms embed and distribute tailored insurance products. The company entered the market in January 2020 with a consumer-facing product (Griffin) before pivoting to its B2B2C API platform. Its API is integrated with more than 15 entities across logistics, e-commerce, banking and fintech and it works with 25 underwriting partners; notable clients include Lipa Later, Sendy, Kwara, Jumia, MarketForce and Stanbic Bank Insurance. Lami is pursuing digitization of agents and brokers, expanding product lines, and has expanded into Egypt and Nigeria while entering Malawi and the DRC through the acquisition of Bluewave. Operational metrics show policy volume grew to 85,000 from 70,000 at the end of 2021, and premiums underwritten quadrupled to $800,000 last year with a projection to exceed $2 million this year. The company says it will use funding to hire, fast-track expansion and drive underwriter partnerships; it also appointed longtime CFO Roy Perlot as a co-founder. Lami Technologies offers an API-driven B2B2C platform that lets banks, startups and other businesses embed, customize and distribute insurance products to end users. The company co-designs products with underwriting partners and runs an insurance marketplace, integrating with partners such as Stanbic Bank, HR platform WorkPay and e-commerce platform Jumia. Lami supports more than 25 active underwriters (including Britam, Pioneer and Madison Insurance) and distributes over 30 product types across motor, medical, employee benefits and device insurance. Since founding in 2018, the startup has sold more than 5,000 policies and reduced claims processing timelines from roughly 90 days to about a week. Lami’s product lets partners quote, customize benefits, adjust premiums, issue policy documents and access claims via the API. The company plans to use its new funding to hire, improve its technology and expand its presence across Africa.